Twins prospects: Mick Abel's strong debut, Marek Houston flashes leather

Abel, who turns 24 in a couple weeks, lowered his Triple-A ERA this season to 2.16. He already reached the big leagues earlier this year, making six starts for Philadelphia, so it likely won't be too long before he's called up to join the Twins' rotation.

The Twins say that sending new acquisitions Abel, Taj Bradley, and James Outman to St. Paul was about not rushing them back to the big leagues. (With Outman specifically, there may be a service-time element that the team would never publicly acknowledge). So far, Alan Roden is the only player added in the Twins' trade deadline fire sale to debut for the team.

"The last thing you want to do is have guys come to the big leagues in a new environment, new staff, new everything, and oh, by the way, 'I’m working on something,'" Twins president Derek Falvey said, via the Minnesota Star Tribune. "If you can get some of that work done in AAA to invest in the long-term future for that guy’s career, it’s usually a little bit better. ... Sometimes you need to get your legs under you in a new organization before you take that next step."

Bradley will likely make his Saints debut at CHS Field on Tuesday. He threw seven no-hit innings in his last Triple-A outing with the Rays' organization.

Outman has gone 0 for 8 with five strikeouts in his first two games with St. Paul.

Houston flashes the leather

Marek Houston, the Twins' recent first-round pick out of Wake Forest (No. 16 overall), made his professional debut with Low-A Fort Myers on Friday. In just his first few games in the Twins' system, he's already showed off one of his greatest strengths: his high-level shortstop defense.

In his pro debut, he made this slick play on a ball up the middle:

Then, one night later, he made an even more impressive play on a ball even further to his left:

Houston, 21, also went 4 for 13 with four singles and a stolen base in his first Low-A series. He could follow the path of 2024 first-round pick Kaelen Culpepper and earn a promotion to High-A Cedar Rapids pretty quickly, which would give him a chance to make his way to Double-A Wichita next year.

Other Twins minor league notes

• Catcher Eduardo Tait, the top prospect the Twins got back in the Duran deal, hit his first double for Cedar Rapids on Sunday. He turns 19 years old this month.

• After a rough month of July, Aaron Sabato hit a pair of homers for the Saints on Saturday. The Twins' 2020 first-rounder, who has had a breakout season, has an .803 OPS for St. Paul.

• 19-year-old lefty Dasan Hill, the Twins' No. 8 prospect, had another strong outing for Fort Myers on Saturday.

• Gabriel Gonzalez and Kyler Fedko are now in Triple-A after raking for Wichita this season. Both earned well-deserved promotions. Gonzalez, the Twins' No. 9 prospect, is just 21 years old.

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