The strength of the St. Paul Saints’ rotation was the talk around CHS Field on media day. Many said they could go up against several MLB teams' rotations. However, their big hitters will help them on the other side of the field, especially Emmanuel Rodriguez, Austin Martin, and newly-minted Triple-A player Luke Keaschall.
Keaschall earned his assignment with the Saints after an impressive spring training with the Twins, where he posted a .814 OPS in just 12 games. Now it’s time for Keaschall to show Twins fans first-hand his strengths as a hitter.
“I’m just excited to be here,” said Keaschall. “Got in yesterday, got some good work in just now, and I’m excited to get going tomorrow and just play as hard as I can and do whatever I can to help us win.”
Keaschall hasn’t played in a professional baseball game in over seven months because he had Tommy John surgery on August 10, which shut down his 2024 season. Despite the early end to his season, he still ended up as the Twins Minor League Hitter of the Year with a .303/.420/.483 triple slash between High-A and Double-A, along with 15 home runs and 48 RBI.
“Last year was a great season,” Keashall said. “I’m happy I got the surgery out of the way. Spring was a blast, got to meet a ton of new people, bunch of new teammates, bunch of new friends. It was great, so I’m just excited to build off that and get things rolling.”
On Thursday, Saints manager Toby Gardenhire said that Keaschall will start the season playing either second base or designated hitter. The Saints hope his bat will adjust well in CHS Field, a hitter-friendly ballpark.
“Keaschall’s ready to go,” said Gardenhire. “He’s going to be on a little bit more of a limited thing because he hasn’t thrown as much coming off of surgery.”
Keaschall’s limits are that he won’t play more than seven innings during his starts at second base for at least the first three games of St. Paul’s season. These limitations are unlikely to apply to him when he’s at DH. However, Jefferson Morales is another prospect who had a hot spring training with the Twins and will fill in for Keaschall whenever he’s removed from the game.
“[Morales has] been swinging the bat great and playing different positions than he has in the past,” said Gardenhire. “Some of it, there’s a little learning curve, he hasn’t played that much second base, and we’re going to run him out there a little bit and try to work him into third a little maybe and the corner outfield spots. But swinging the bat, he was awesome, and the energy he brings is pretty fun.”
Keaschall also hopes the knowledge and wisdom he got from Twins veterans in spring training will carry over to his debut in Triple-A on Friday. While he didn’t list off every player and coach who helped him in camp, he’s grateful to everyone who took their time to further his development.
“Everybody made me feel great,” he said. “I’m just excited to have met them and have a good spring with them. Now I’m just ready for the whole season.”
After his time in major league camp, there weren’t too many things for Keaschall to fixate on and build up over the first month aside from his throwing repetition and how it’ll impact his arm strength. He knows how much damage he can do at the plate, and he’s confident enough to trust his swing to perform very well at Triple-A.
“I’m just trying to get in the box and do damage,” he said, “and I’m just excited to play, get some at-bats up here, and get used to the Minnesota weather and all that good stuff.”
Fortunately for Keaschall, the Saints will have some of the best weather in years. Temperatures are expected to reach up to 75 degrees for the first pitch on Friday.
It won’t take too long for Twins and Saints fans to know when Keaschall is coming to the plate. He has a smooth swing that can hit to all fields. As he approaches the plate, the CHS Field speakers will be blaring one of the most familiar musical scores in film history, with Rocky Balboa’s theme amping him and the fans up for each at-bat.
“I’ve stuck with it a long time,” he said. “It hasn’t done me wrong, and nothing's more American than that song. I love that song.”
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