St. Paul – Tanner Schobel had a lot to look forward to this week. He was coming off a solid series with the Wichita Wind Surge against the Tulsa Drillers, where he hit a couple of home runs, and his girlfriend Gracie was coming from Tennessee to visit him on the Wind Surge’s road trip to Northwest Arkansas.
Little did they know their stay in Arkansas would be short-lived when the Wind Surge manager and former Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dinkelman called him into his office after Tuesday’s game.
“When Dink told me that I was going to Triple-A, I got really excited,” said Schobel. “My girlfriend actually came into town, so that was tough because she flew in, then we had to take a flight to come here as soon as she got there, so it was surreal.”
Schobel was Minnesota’s second-round pick in 2022 and was ranked among the team’s top 10 prospects entering last season. 2024 started with high expectations, but he regressed at the plate.
His OPS dropped over .130 points from the year before, and it felt like he was losing control of what made his swing work. But Schobel didn’t just want to dwell on the negative, so he found a way to keep track of his strengths and build them up.
“For me, a big thing was just writing down things that were working for me in my notes on my phone,” Schobel. “So a lot of that was putting more pressure on my back heel, which would give me more balance and help me get more control. Stay on fastballs and even adjust to off-speed a lot better.”
Better balance at the plate has turned out to be the secret to Schobel’s success. He compiled a .292/.372/.465 slash line with seven home runs, 29 RBI, 25 walks, and seven stolen bases in 49 games with the Wind Surge. However, building up his physical performance was only half of what Schobel needed to accomplish.
Schobel felt compelled to build up his mental fortitude when reflecting on his slumps in the season, and he did so by leaning more into his faith during this off-season.
“Mentally, getting a lot stronger in my faith was a big part of it,” he said, “because it’s easy to lose sight of that when things aren’t going great, as they weren’t the best last year. So this season, just doing a lot of mental stuff with my faith to heal from that sort of thing.”
It was a matter of building on his strengths and regaining his confidence with his teammates in Wichita.
“We knew we weren’t going to see anything that we hadn’t seen before, so I think just the confidence level for me was a lot higher this year. We had some conversations in spring that were really motivating, just to get things ramped up again, which was great. So just playing with confidence and playing under control is really important to me.”
Now he brings that confidence and camaraderie to the Saints clubhouse. He will join several former Wichita teammates in St. Paul, including Carson McCusker, Jeferson Morales, and Patrick Winkel.
“I like him, he’s a good infielder, he runs, he moves around well out there, and then he’s got some thump,” said Saints manager Toby Gardenhire. “That’s one of the reasons why we like him. He’s versatile and he can do a lot of different things. I’m sure he’ll be moving around (the infield). I played him at third base the first couple of games because he’s comfortable over there, and that was kind of the need.
Schobel went 0-for-3 with a walk in his first night in a Saints uniform. However, he improved upon that greatly Thursday night, going 1-for-3 with his first hit at Triple-A being a three-run home run to give the Saints a 4-2 lead in the top of the second over the Rail Riders. Even though the lead was short-lived, it was a jolt for Schobel to get his first hit at Triple-A in a big spot.
“It was awesome,” he said. “Getting the first one out of the way is always nice. I felt good, I felt like I was in my legs. The last few days I’ve been swinging and missing a little bit, but it was nice to catch one out in front and get it elevated, so that was really cool.”
The best part of it all for Schobel? He had his girlfriend, Gracie, in Minnesota to witness his first Triple-A hit, a home run. His parents, David and Shea, also decided to book flights from Virginia and a hotel once they heard the news.
“My parents booked flights and they came out for this week, which was really sweet of them,” he said. “But yeah, it’s really exciting and now that I’m here, the goal is not to stay in the minor leagues, so I’m going to do my best to keep getting better here and every level and try to get my way up.”
