Twins’ Payton Eeles Climbs From Indy Ball To Triple-A In Whirlwind Season
The negotiations didn’t take long, Drew MacPhail remembers.
The Twins offered, more or less, a tank of gas, a week’s worth of groceries and a nice dinner out. Well, a dinner without appetizers.
“Yeah, we ended up signing him for $500,” said MacPhail, the Twins’ farm director, with a laugh. “Pretty good value for the money.”
That value was provided by Payton Eeles, an undrafted second baseman who opened the 2024 season in independent ball and ended it as shortstop and leadoff hitter for Triple-A St. Paul.
“He’s a pretty awesome story. He’s one of our development group’s favorite players,” MacPhail said. “One of the best climbers we’ve ever had in our system.”
The 24-year-old Eeles is 5-foot-5, “and might be 5-4,” MacPhail said, and has been underestimated his whole life.
Eeles had no Division I offers out of high school, and he wasn’t drafted after three D-II seasons at Cedarville (Ohio) or a year at Coastal Carolina. After college, he caught on with Southern Maryland in the independent Atlantic League.
When the Twins ran short of minor league infielders, they made a few phone calls to indy league managers asking for recommendations, then offered Eeles that loose-change-in-the-sofa-cushions “bonus” in May to play for Low-A Fort Myers.
“What a signing. He dominated at Low-A, then dominated at High-A, too,” MacPhail said. When injuries and promotions thinned St. Paul’s roster, “we sent him there temporarily, figured maybe he’d be there a week. He played so unbelievably well, we couldn’t send him down.”
Eeles cracked a dozen home runs on the year, eight with St. Paul, and posted a .919 OPS there in 64 games. He had almost exactly as many walks (67) as strikeouts (68) during the season, batted .307/.435/.497, stole 41 bases and impressed the Twins with his defense.
Most of all, “he was just the epitome of an all-time gamer. He plays the game super-hard,” MacPhail said. “He says he’s always played that way. He had to earn his way up.
“He’s just a ton of fun to watch.”
