St. Paul – Noah Cardenas has only been at Triple-A for three weeks, but he’s already made a substantial impact with his bat and catching abilities.
It all came to fruition for Cardenas in Game 2 of the St. Paul Saints’ doubleheader on Saturday. He led off the bottom of the seventh facing Zach Maxwell, the Louisville Bats’ flamethrowing right-hander. Maxwell didn’t throw Cardenas any fastballs below 99 MPH, but his mistake to Cardenas wasn’t velocity, but location.
Maxwell’s sixth pitch of the at-bat left his hand at 99.3 MPH and went right down the middle for Cardenas to drill 104 MPH off the bat and into the visiting bullpen to give the Saints the 5-4 victory.
“He was throwing hard,” Cardenas said. “Threw a couple of fastballs so I was able to kind of get a feel of how I was going to come in, how I was going to see it, and I was able to put a good swing on it.”
Nobody expected Cardenas to crush a walk-off home run more than Pierson Ohl, his battery mate on the mound. Ohl, 25, made his Triple-A debut earlier in the week, throwing four scoreless innings in his first start, and extended that streak to 6 ⅔ innings to start his Triple-A career, with Cardenas behind the plate in both games.
They’ve roomed together in the lower levels of the minors and have gotten to know each other as well as any teammates can.
“I mean, I called it,” said Ohl. “I was in the clubhouse at the time watching the TV, and I was like, ‘He’s not going to get beat by a fastball again. And he was right on time, I mean, God is good, and he hammered it. It was sweet.”
“It was awesome for him, it was awesome for us,” added Saints manager Toby Gardenhire. “I mean, that’s two nice walk-off wins in a row for us; last night and tonight. So it was pretty fun. Any time you see a guy get a walk-off home run, it’s pretty cool.”
Cardenas has made an impact with his at-bats, with four home runs and seven RBI in his first 11 games at Triple-A. However, he’s made a greater impact behind the plate, as Ohl can attest. Cardenas has caught Ohl over 30 times since the Twins drafted both of them in 2021.
“I think it’s an underrated aspect,” said Ohl. “Just the catcher knowing your stuff, knowing what to go to with two strikes to get ahead of guys. I’ve thrown to him for the last four seasons, and he’s phenomenal back there, and I’m comfortable. He’s comfortable, and it’s been great.”
“I think the rapport helps a lot in those tough situations because we’ve been in the really good moments and we’ve been in the really tough moments together,” said Cardenas. “And I think tonight the stuff started getting better later, I just think that one pitch, if we could take it back, we’d take it back. But he did a great job competing for us and keeping us in the game.”
Pitchers like Ohl, Marco Raya, and Cory Lewis have thrown to Cardenas plenty of times. The veterans Randy Dobnak, Michael Tonkin, and the newly-acquired Connor Gillispie, along with José Ureña, are just becoming acquainted with his catching style and how he calls games.
In three weeks, the veterans have had nothing but good things to say about Cardenas’ work behind the plate. Jonas Lovin had Cardenas with him in High-A Cedar Rapids in 2023.
“The guys are always confident throwing to him, and I think that’s just a big piece of it, just trusting the guy behind the dish,” said Lovin. “He’s done a really nice job, and I think the guys that haven’t thrown to him yet and the guys who will continue to throw to him more will like him more and more as we go on.”
The veterans have also made their job easier for Cardenas, welcoming him into the clubhouse as they do with every other call-up.
“I think the guys have really helped me with everything, really with the adjustment process, and a lot of familiar faces,” he said. “Which has helped a lot with getting adapted to where things are, pitchcom, things like that.
“I think on the catching end, it’s been more interesting because you’ve got to learn pitchers on the fly and know what they like. So they’ve done a great job helping me get back and feeling comfortable.”
Cardenas has and will continue to see plenty of playing time behind the plate. Mickey Gasper is on the IL with bilateral plantar fasciitis, and Jair Camargo was shut down for the season earlier last week as he underwent Tommy John surgery. While he’s only 6-for-30 at the plate, his impact behind the dish will continue to grow stronger for the Saints’ pitching staff.
