A once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence in Minnesota this week, as both the Twins and Cubs had their Triple-A affiliates facing off just 15 minutes away from one another. The St. Paul Saints and Iowa Cubs had a bunch of close games against each other in the first half of their series. See who’s hot and who’s turning a corner for their teams with the latest live look from St. Paul.
Notable Dynasty Performances in St. Paul
Twins Triple-A Hitters Who Are Standing Out
Hitter 1: Austin Martin
Stats from the last two weeks: .278 AVG | .400 OBP | .417 SLG | 1 HR | 3 RBI | 0 SB | 15.6 K% | 17.8 BB%
Austin Martin has been one of the best hitters in the Saints’ lineup when healthy this year. Unfortunately, he had dealt with a pulled hamstring not only once, but twice, within a month of it being aggravated the first time. Now that he’s back healthy, Martin is still playing a bit of catch-up with his timing on the plate, but he did make a strong impact in his first game back at Triple-A, hitting a home run on the first pitch he saw to put his team up 1-0.
Even with the hamstring injuries keeping him limited to 23 games, Martin has still put up an impressive .329/.443/.405 slash line on the season, with just one home run and seven RBI. Martin has never been a big power hitter, so don’t anticipate those numbers increasing anytime soon for him at the plate. But he is a talented fielder at second base, left field, and center, and has some strong speed as well to rack up his stolen base count. The Twins are unlikely to be making any other roster moves between now and the All-Star break. However, if Martin plays well enough to wrap up this series against the I-Cubs going into the break, he could be joining the Twins in a bench role once they return from the break.
Hitter 2: Noah Cardenas
Stats from the last two weeks: .250 AVG | .351 OBP | .656 SLG | 4 HR | 7 RBI | 0 SB | 16.2 K% | 10.8 BB%
Cardenas was called up to Triple-A a month ago and is splitting playing time between Patrick Winkel and Mickey Gasper behind the plate. In his short playing time, he’s already settled well in the Saints lineup, crushing four home runs in 37 plate appearances over his last 11 games. Among those home runs was a walk-off in game two of a doubleheader on Saturday, June 28.
Cardenas is in a spot battling for the opening catcher role on the Twins for 2026, after current Twins catcher Christian Vázquez enters free agency. Winkel and Gasper currently sit ahead of him in the depth chart due to more playing time at Triple-A. It’s a hard road ahead for Cardenas to crack into the top spot, but given how lucky the Twins have been having to use only two starting catchers since 2023, Cardenas does have time on his side to develop into the catcher the Twins front office would like for him to be to reach the majors.
Visiting Cubs Hitters Grabbing the Attention
Hitter 1: Owen Caissie
Stats from the last two weeks: .339 AVG | .466 OBP | .814 SLG | 9 HR | 13 RBI | 0 SB | 19.2 K% |19.2 BB%
Caissie is the most wanted prospect in the Cubs system, with all teams contacting them for trade deals this month. He’s the man with the short straw in the Cubs farm system, remaining at Triple-A for over a year with the major league outfield made up of Ian Happ, Pete Crow Armstrong, and Seiya Suzuki. Even if his future is elsewhere, the newly turned 23-year-old Canadian is hitting a hot bat at the right time for trade talks.
The last two weeks, Caissie has been on a home run tear, crushing nine home runs and driving in 13. His strikeout-to-walk rate has been equal, but the power production from Caissie is an encouraging sign for any team scouting him as a trade acquisition. He’s already matched his home run total from last year, 19, in 73 games compared to 127 in 2024. Wherever Caissie gets traded, he’s bound for a quick call-up to the majors, which makes him an admirable player for dynasty managers to have on their teams.
Notable Pitching Performances in St. Paul
Pitcher 1: Marco Raya
Marco Raya is finally on a roll with the Saints, and he continued building off his success on Thursday night against the I-Cubs. In his start, Raya went six innings for the second time this season and the second start in a row. It was an improvement from his last start in Gwinnett, where he walked four through six; this time, his final line was three hits, 1 earned run, one walk, and seven strikeouts. Most of Raya’s struggles came from the mental side of the game, trying to be perfect after every mistake he made, over seven bad starts he made from April 25 to June 5, where allowed 27 hits, 16 walks, an opponent’s OPS of .963, and 30 earned runs in 19 ⅓ innings.
Now, over his last six starts, Raya has put together a 2.05 ERA in 30.2 innings, struck out 28 batters, walked 13, allowed only 20 hits, and exited only one start early before completing five full innings. Raya has battled through his mental battles from earlier this season, keeping a better composure on what to do to get the next out, and it’s really begun to show how it’s benefited him, especially in his start to July.
“Really just staying true to myself,” said Raya on what’s been clicking. “Just taking it one day at a time, and just trying to rinse and repeat every single day.”
The turnaround has been noticed and appreciated by Saints manager Toby Gardenhire, too, who has seen all the ups and downs for Raya at Triple-A this year.
“He’s been great,” said Gardenhire. “He had a tough start to the year for sure, but it’s been a learning curve thing for him. He’s really worked hard, and the last however many starts he’s been awesome. He’s been our best pitcher the last couple of weeks.”
Another big help to Raya’s turnaround has been his tinkering with his curveball and sweeper in bullpen sessions. Gardenhire had already described Raya’s curveball as big league ready after his first start in Triple-A last September. Now it’s just a matter of racking up more strikeouts as the season goes on.
“It’s been feeling great. I’ve been messing with it in the bullpens a little bit. Some days, like the last couple starts it’s been a little short, so has the sweeper. So just going back to the drawing boards in those bullpens and kind of just looking at the specifics and working on it.”
With the Twins in trade deadline limbo, not officially set as sellers but being evaluated as a selling team this month, there’s a chance Raya could get called up to the big leagues depending on how things move around with the major league roster. He’s already on the 40-man roster, and if he can keep up his hot streak, he’ll see his time come for a major league debut this season.
Pitcher 2: Will Sanders
Sanders was recently promoted to Triple-A Iowa on May 29. He had a stint on the development list from June 19 to July 2 after he allowed 12 earned runs in 21.2 innings off 25 hits and 10 walks, accumulating a 4.98 ERA. He’s made two starts since returning from the development list and has shown a sign of turning things around, allowing just nine hits and five walks in 10 innings across two starts. Additionally, he’s struck out 22.6% of batters and walked just 7.2% since his call-up from Knoxville.
Sanders has had an adjustment period moving up from one level to the next. He is not currently ranked as a top-10 prospect on industry sites, nor does MLB.com have him within their Cubs’ Top-30 prospect list ahead of the upcoming draft. His performance at Double-A did put him on the map as an under-the-radar prospect for dynasty owners. He had a 2.64 ERA in 44.1 innings along with a 1.04 WHIP. Sanders is still only 23 years old and still has room for growth with his stuff at Triple-A. He’s unlikely to get the callup to the majors this season; however, if he only keeps turning things around from how they’ve started off the development list, it’s only a matter of time for him to make a case to get the Cubs front office’s attention.
Other Dynasty Storylines to Follow
Emmanuel Rodriguez returned from the 7-day IL on Tuesday after missing a month due to a right hip strain. He sat on Thursday but was 3-for-7 in his first two games back with St. Paul, which included a three-run homer in his first game back. Rodriguez’s hot start in his return is an encouraging sign for a player who was struggling across
