Twins designate Alex Jackson for assignment for the third time this season

The Minnesota Twins designated catcher Alex Jackson for assignment Monday, per a club announcement, clearing a 40-man roster spot for first baseman Aaron Sabato, whose promotion from Triple-A St. Paul had been previously reported and is now official.

What happened

Per the club announcement, Jackson was designated for assignment for the third time this season. The 40-man spot he vacated goes to Sabato, completing a roster shuffle that Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors notes had been anticipated since Sabato's promotion was first reported.

This is familiar territory for Jackson. Per Adams, he has cleared waivers on both prior DFA occasions this season and accepted outright assignments to the minor leagues each time. The financial math behind that pattern is straightforward: Jackson is earning a $1.35MM salary with Minnesota this season, and with roughly $50K remaining on his guaranteed deal, he would forfeit that remainder by rejecting an outright assignment in favor of free agency. With the regular season approximately a week from its conclusion, Adams writes that another outright assignment is the most likely outcome here.

Why it matters

The more interesting question is not where Jackson lands — it is how he got here, and what the Twins' handling of him says about the final weeks of a season that has already been mathematically resolved. Per Adams, Minnesota designated Jackson for assignment ten days after the trade deadline, then immediately re-selected him to the major-league roster after he passed through waivers unclaimed. Aaron Gleeman, a longtime Twins writer, noted that the club then carried Jackson on the roster for 44 games dating back to August 1 while giving him only five plate appearances in that stretch.

Five plate appearances across 44 games is not a deployment strategy so much as a philosophical position. Jackson functioned as a third catcher behind Ryan Jeffers and Victor Caratini, with a secondary role as a backup option at first base, but per Adams, manager Derek Shelton was effectively operating with a 25-man roster and keeping Jackson around as an insurance policy. Now, with the season winding down and Aaron Sabato ready to get a look at the big-league level, that insurance policy has been cashed out.

The Sabato promotion is the forward-looking piece of this transaction. His arrival fills the roster spot and gives Minnesota a chance to evaluate the first baseman in a major-league environment before the offseason begins.

The numbers

Jackson's career line tells a story that has been consistent across six big-league teams and seven partial seasons: a .175/.254/.305 slash with a 39.6% strikeout rate, per Adams. Those are not numbers that invite a long look from a contending club.

The recent sample, however, is more complicated. Per Adams, Jackson posted a .256/.312/.444 batting line with a 112 wRC+ across 173 plate appearances split between the Twins and Orioles over the past two seasons. That looks like a meaningful uptick — and a 112 wRC+ is legitimately above average — but Adams flags the underlying texture: a 35.3% strikeout rate persists, and a .376 average on balls in play has been doing significant heavy lifting. That BABIP figure is not something Adams expects to hold over a larger sample, which reframes the surface line considerably.

Where Jackson has drawn consistent praise is behind the plate, particularly in controlling the running game. Per Adams, he is regarded as a quality defender, and that reputation is likely what has kept him on the fringes of major-league rosters despite the offensive profile.

Jackson is also a former No. 6 overall draft pick and one-time top prospect, per Adams — context that makes the career arc worth noting, even if it does not change the arithmetic of a third DFA in a single season.

Where the club stands

The Twins enter Monday at 73-83 (.468), sitting third in the AL Central, 8 games back in the division, and eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race. At rank 7 in the Wild Card standings, 7.0 games relative to the cut line, the remaining schedule is about development and evaluation rather than standings movement. Minnesota carries a one-game winning streak into the week.

The club opens a three-game series at Oracle Park against the San Francisco Giants on Monday, with Zebby Matthews taking the ball against Blade Tidwell. The series continues Tuesday with Taj Bradley opposing Anthony Molina, and Wednesday's Minnesota probable starter is listed as TBD against Cesar Perdomo.

The roster has seen meaningful activity in recent days. Kaelen Culpepper landed on the injured list with a hamstring strain, with a potential return targeted for the final weekend of the season. Trevor Larnach has been out of the lineup with a wrist injury and could miss additional time. And Dean Kremer, who came over in a trade reported earlier this week, has posted scoreless starts since joining the club.

Against that backdrop, the Jackson DFA and Sabato promotion fit the September pattern: a team playing out the string makes room for a younger option while parting ways with a veteran who served his purpose as depth.

What we don't know yet

Whether any club places a waiver claim on Jackson remains to be seen. Per Adams, a team looking for affordable, glove-first catching depth could make a move — Jackson would be owed only a modest remaining salary. But Adams notes that the expectation is for Jackson to clear waivers again and accept another outright assignment, as he has done twice already this season.

What Sabato's role will look like in the final days of the season is also unspecified. His promotion is official, but the extent of his playing time in the remaining games has not been detailed.

What to watch

The waiver clock on Jackson is the immediate item to monitor. Under general league mechanics, a player designated for assignment must be traded, released, or placed on waivers within seven days, and outright waivers run 48 hours. If he clears unclaimed, the third outright assignment of his season becomes the likely outcome. If a club does put in a claim, Minnesota would face a decision — though with the season this close to its end, the calculus there is narrow.

For Sabato, the question is simply how much he plays and what he shows in a limited audition. The Twins' final series in San Francisco offers a low-stakes environment for exactly that kind of evaluation, which is perhaps the most useful thing a 73-83 September can reliably provide.