UNC’s Aaron Sabato drafted by Minnesota Twins in first round of MLB Draft

UNC first baseman Aaron Sabato has been selected by the Minnesota Twins as the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft.

The Twins have chosen a position player with their first pick for five consecutive years.

The sophomore had 19 hits and seven home runs this season in 19 games, all of which he started. Defensively, he had 107 putouts and nine double plays.

During his freshman season, Sabato had an 11-game hitting streak and tied for second-most extra-base hits in a season.

Sabato was a Collegiate Baseball Co-National Freshman of the Year in 2019, first-team All-America and Freshman All-America in 2019. He was also ACC Freshman of the Year and first-team ACC.

He was supposed to play in the 2019 Cape Cod Summer League, but was sidelined by a shoulder surgery.

MLB.com ranked him No. 41 on its list of top-200 draft picks. He had not been previously drafted, and barely made eligibility cut for this year’s draft, turning 21 last week.

In an interview with the News and Observer on Monday, Sabato said being drafted has been one of his lifelong dreams.

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 10:28 PM.