There was perhaps no better player at the plate for St. Paul Saints in September than Payton Eeles. Eeles lead the team in home runs (five), RBI (15), walks (12), stolen bases (eight), and on-base percentage (.442) to finish the team’s final 18 games. It left a strong impression across the clubhouse.
“Payton Eeles was freaking awesome at the end [of the season],” said St. Paul Saints manager Toby Gardenhire, who managed Eeles since early July. “It was just really fun to watch. He’s just a guy who kept going up and kept going up, just kept impressing people. Even all the way to the last day, he was as good as anybody out there today, and that’s just what he’s been doing for us.”
The MLB off-season brings about time to reflect on prospects and re-ranking lists. Some players graduate from the lists after making their debuts in 2024 and graduating off the lists, either from 130 at-bats for hitters or 50 innings pitched by pitchers.
New names emerge in the Minors from the MLB Draft, but occasional players signed out of independent ball crack these lists. Eeles is one of the Twins’ most recent cases; his performance during the Saints’ final month of the season brought him more notice.
The Twins signed Eeles, 25, to a minor-league contract out of the Atlantic League on May 7, and he quickly matriculated through the system. He played 34 games in Low-A Ft. Myers and only 13 in High-A Cedar Rapids. He played his final 64 games of the season with the Saints. The 5’6” infielder started to hit for power in St. Paul and began to resemble Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve.
“There’s so many great players in the big leagues today, and there’s players that maybe don’t have that greatness, but they’re good,” said Butch Hobson, the former big-leaguer who managed Eeles with the Chicago Dogs. “They’re blue-collared, they just get out there every day and I love that kind of player, I think fans want to see that out on the field and he is the epitome of that player.”
“I think when I first got up here, I was just finding ways to get on base, but I wasn’t doing much damage at the plate,” said Eeles. “So I think just consistently working every day, getting my routine in, and working with our hitting coach Shawn Schlechter, he’s done a tremendous job with me.”
Eight home runs in 214 at-bats only averaged a 26.75 home run per at-bat rate, which is not considered an elite rate. However, home runs per at-bat is not the only stat that weighs a player’s power-hitting value. Isolated Power (ISO) is a better way to measure that.
ISO takes the average number of extra bases a player produces per at-bat with their slugging percentage and batting average. FanGraphs considers a .140 ISO to be league average and anything above .200 to be elite. Once Eeles arrived in St. Paul and worked with Schlechter to improve his power, he posted a .201 ISO.
ISO wasn’t tracked as closely in the minor leagues when Altuve was still in Houston’s farm system. However, he hadn’t had an ISO over .200 until his MVP season in 2017, when it was .202 with 67 extra-base hits, including 24 home runs.
“It’s just the way that adds value,” said Eeles. “That’s the goal, just what can I do to increase my value to where the big-league club is looking at me like, ‘Okay, what can this guy do?’ And if I’m able to do those little things well, then that helps a lot.”
The Saints felt Eeles’ value all around the diamond as their season was coming to a close in September. While his power continued to increase at the plate, he also showed growth in the field, playing much better defense around the diamond. Whether playing his natural position at shortstop or getting a spot start in the outfield, Eeles’ added value was showing.
“On the defensive side, I was working with our infield coach Tyler Smarslok and we’re really trying to evaluate how do I gain more range and stuff and how am I able to cover more ground,” Eeles said. “So we’ve been working a lot, and sure enough, I was able to show it in my play and get that out there so that’s been pretty cool.”
Despite his minimal time in professional baseball, Eeles’s coaches and teammates noticed his improvements in all aspects of his game.
“Eeles, he’s a sparkplug,” said Gardenhire. “He’s a really cool story when he got up here. He’s just continued to impress everybody, and it’s been awesome, and we’re super happy for him.”
“[Eeles is] obviously playing really well,” said fellow infielder Rylan Bannon. “Being a friend to him and helping him navigate his success, it’s really cool to see what he’s doing.”
MLB.com has Eeles as their No. 30 prospect in Minnesota’s top-30 prospect list. However, when Altuve was still a prospect in 2011, he wasn’t on MLB.com’s radar for the Astros or the top 50 prospects when MLB Pipeline launched that season.
Altuve is a once-in-a-generation player, but Payton Eeles is setting himself up to be that type of prospect and perhaps a rookie with the Twins in 2025.
