St. Paul – Aaron Sabato has been an avid golfer, and he has frequently hit the links with his Wichita Wind Surge teammates in the three years he’s spent with the Minnesota Twins’ Double-A affiliate.
Wednesday, June 11, was just like any other. He planned a tee time with Aaron Rozek and Mike Paredes after their game on Sunday. They still needed to fill out a foursome, but the time to find the last guy in their crew was cut short when Wind Surge manager Brian Dinkelman called for everyone’s attention in their clubhouse.
“He came in after the game and was like, ‘Hey, who’s golfing on Sunday?’” Sabato recalled, “and four guys raised their hand, and he said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to find a fourth because Sabato, you’re going up to St. Paul.’”
It’s been a long time coming for Minnesota’s first-round (27th overall) pick from the shortened 2020 MLB Draft to find his way to Triple-A. Fortunately, the Wind Surge is playing a day game on Wednesday, and he doesn’t have to report until Friday with the Saints. Therefore, he had plenty of time to get his things together and ask Rozek, his good friend, and Savage, Minn., native, what to do once he arrives in Minnesota.
“I just asked him stuff like how they travel, little things like, can I bring bags?” said Sabato. “He’s been one of my really good friends since 2021 with the Mussels, so he’s just a great dude.”
Sabato had been crushing Double-A pitching this year. He has a .305/.399/.574 slash line, nine home runs, 26 RBI, and a .436 wOBA over 163 plate appearances in 39 games. The power had always been there for the 6’2”, 230 lbs., Rye Brook, NY native, who can translate it off the field into a mean dunk on the basketball court. But his work over the last two off-seasons has allowed him to develop more than just power.
“The last two seasons I’ve just been working on some little stuff,” said Sabato, “just trying to load, sequencing stuff to be a bit more rhythm and in time to be loaded in the right position and to be able to fire more when I want.”
In addition to getting more in rhythm with his swing and better balanced with his load time with his stance, Sabato has had a clean bill of health for the first time in a long time. Last year, he stayed behind on a rehab assignment in Fort Myers for a couple of weeks once the Double-A season started while dealing with an oblique injury.
But now that those injuries are behind him, Sabato is focusing on the present and not dwelling on time lost due to injuries. He’s also not focusing on arriving at Triple-A now rather than sooner in his career.
“I feel like I’ve learned so much about myself as a player, so I really wouldn’t trade it for the world,” said Sabato.
“Maybe looking back, would I want to be there faster, or do I want to get there really quick with some things? But being where I am now, it’s kind of like I’ve learned so much about myself, how to go about the struggles, and how to go remain even keel and keep that confidence day in and day out, and keep that off-season work.”
It’s also rewarding for Saints manager Toby Gardenhire to see Sabato make it to St. Paul. Gardenhire has worked with him every season in spring training since 2021. Gardenhire has always known what Sabato is capable of and appreciates how he’s matured as a player since the Twins drafted him in 2020.
“It’s cool seeing him, he was in Double-A for the last couple of years,” said Gardenhire. “This year, he really put up some numbers, and he’s done a really nice job, and he earned it. He earned himself a promotion up to Triple-A, which is good for him. Now he’s here and we’ll see what he does.”
Sabato has only played one of his four Triple-A games at CHS Field. However, the Saints are about to start a 12-game homestand, so he’ll get to showcase his power for Twins fans who have waited to see it up close for the last five years. But given his trust in his coaches and what he has within himself, it won’t take long for him to translate his Double-A numbers to Triple-A.
“You start to trust yourself as a player a little bit more, and really, when you feel things go wrong, you start to revert back to the stuff that you’ve been working on now for seven, eight months,” Sabato said. “It makes it a little better it feels like you’re not chasing or chasing that feeling. You just go back to your work and little things that kind of just bring you back.”
With St. Paul’s next off-day at home on Monday, Sabato must coordinate a new group of teammates to golf with. Given his longtime friendships with many of them, it won’t take much time for them to get a group together on the local course.
As for the possibility of playing some pick-me-up basketball to see if Sabato can still dunk? It likely won’t happen. Golf is less risky than a competitive game of 3-on-3. Still, that doesn’t mean Sabato can’t turn his home run power into a dunk over one of his teammates.
“Yeah, I still can [dunk],” he said. “I haven’t really done it in a while. I try to stay away from the basketball courts and try to stay on the baseball field as much as I can, especially with the injuries I’ve dealt with in my past. [But] I can still do it.”
