St. Paul – Payton Eeles has made his presence known wherever he’s played. His 5’5”, 180 lbs. frame is far from the typical ballplayer build. Still, he’s proven his worth to be on the field at every turn from his days at Allatoona High School outside Atlanta to the St. Paul Saints.
But before this season, Eeles hadn’t faced any major setbacks. He’s been healthy every year and exceeded expectations at the plate and on the field at every turn. That was until he had to undergo knee surgery to address a cartilage issue he had in 2024.
Eeles faced a new challenge: How to respond on the field after missing most of spring training and the first two months of the season. Eeles has a track record of overcoming every obstacle at every level he’s played. Still, his return from the knee surgery was the first thing that humbled him in a long time.
“I think I just learned a lot this year,” said Eeles. “Like how to recover and how to take care of my body better. I’ve been really blessed throughout my career. I haven’t had many injuries, so this was really foreign to me, and I missed a significant chunk of the season.”
Payton Eeles returned to the Saints roster from a 13-game rehab assignment on June 3. The first 19 games back in the Saints lineup were one of the worst stretches of his career, where he went 15-for-67 (.224 batting average) with no power and just three RBI. There were still flashes of his promise in there. He held a .341 on-base percentage and stole four bases. Still, Eeles was far from feeling himself.
Over the next 27 games from June 27 to the end of July, Eeles put up a .337/.411/ .429 slash line, seven stolen bases, two home runs, and nine RBI. Things were returning to Eeles’ baseline from 2024 on the performance side, but as the season wore on, the mental hurdles of the game remained a constant challenge for him throughout the rest of the year.
“Mentally, I feel like that wore on me, too,” said Eeles. “Feeling like I had to catch up and be the player I was before, and kind of chasing the past, and it’s kind of tough to do that when you have all these eyes on you. And you’re trying to do things, and you’re playing against really good players.”
“The great thing about Payton is he’ll never say those things,” said Saints hitting development coach Danny Marcuzzo. “He doesn’t want the injury to be an excuse. I mean, we’ll bring it up at times and try to say, ‘Hey man, give yourself a little bit of grace.’ And he goes, he doesn’t want that. So that’s just the kind of kid that he is and how he goes about his business, but I do think it has taken a toll on him at times.”
Those mental hurdles manifested in Eeles’ results at the plate as the season drew to a close in August and September. Eeles’ last 40 games have been the worst stretch of his career. He only hit .210/.377/.287 with only two home runs, 20 RBI, 10 stolen bases, a 16.4% strikeout rate, and 15.3% walk rate.
Eeles’ walk rate helped to keep his on-base percentage for the year at an impressive .382 mark. However, his attempt to play catch-up at the plate resulted in a lack of power, similar to what he showed last year, with 12 home runs over 111 games, compared to just four in 99 this season.
But even if Eeles was not as consistent as he wanted to be at the plate. He showed his best effort with his consistency in his work ethic and attitude around the clubhouse, even when things weren’t the same for him on the field.
“He’s had to make that adjustment,” said Marcuzzo. “At times, he’s gone, ‘I have to get less in my legs, I have to understand the way they’re pitching me now that I’ve had success at this level. I’ve had to adjust what my body has given that day.’ So it’s been fun to watch his development, even though things haven’t quite gone as smoothly as they might have had coming into the transition last year.”
“I think that’s where I learned the most, how to deal with that stuff,” Eeles said. “Thankfully, guys like Schlech (Saints hitting coach Shawn Schlechter) have helped me a ton on the hitting side of things. Danny, too, just go out there and be the player you are and not try to chase anything.”
If he hadn’t had to miss the first two months of the year due to injury, Eeles might have made his MLB debut this year. So what are his plans this off-season so he can make that dream come true in 2026?
“I would say how to set myself up, and I think nothing really special,” said Eeles. “I think just playing into the role they want me to have. Obviously, they want me to be a utility guy, so off-season, working on ‘Okay, how can I get better at each position? What can I do there?’
“And then from the hitting side of things, just working to play my game. Don’t try to do too much. Making sure everything is mechanically sound because this league is so tough that where even if something is slightly off, it can turn into stuff being [completely] off.”
The Twins could use a utility player of Eeles’ caliber to fill Willi Castro’s role before they traded him away at the deadline. Eeles is eager to correct the mistakes he learned from this season, and he believes that starting the next season healthy will help him overcome the setbacks he experienced down the stretch.
