Minnesota Twins: 5 Reasons to Love the Twins’ new Minor League System
Reason No. 1 to Love the new Minnesota Twins System: The St. Paul Saints
We’ll start with the obvious. The current version of the St. Paul Saints have been a fixture in the Twin Cities since 1993, but the name St. Paul Saints has been around much longer. The original St. Paul Saints were one of the most important minor league teams in all of the United States from 1894 to 1899. They then moved to Chicago to become the White Sox (Seriously).
The second iteration lasted from 1901-1960. They were once again a key minor league team and engaged in the Streetcar Series rivalry with the Minneapolis Millers, seeing Hall of Famers like Roy Campanella, Lefty Gomez, and Duke Snider pass through the system.
When the Minnesota Twins moved to Minnesota in 1961, the Saints moved to Omaha to become the Omaha Dodgers. They folded the next year, clearing the way for the current St. Paul Saints to take form.
The newest edition of the St. Paul Saints has been an independent team since 1993, serving as a cheap, fun way to see professional baseball games at the old Midway and then at the almost brand new CHS Field. Now, Minnesotans will get to see future Twins players on the field.
There are quite a few fans out there who aren’t happy with this move, but I’m absolutely thrilled. As I talked about before, this has really excellent potential. The Saints antics will continue, but we’ll get to see future major league talent just twenty short minutes away from Target Field. This brings me to my next point.
Reason No. 2 to Love the new Minnesota Twins System: Location, Location, Location.
The Minnesota Twins have spent the past seventeen seasons with their top three minor league teams out east, whether it be in Rochester (New York), New Britain (Connecticut), Chattanooga (Tennessee), or Ft. Myers and Pensacola (Florida). All five of those cities required at least a 15 hour drive or a 4 hour flight.
The only exception was the Class-A team, which resided in Beloit, Wisconsin and then Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but your lower A team isn’t one you want closest to you. The Minnesota Twins greatly altered that for 2021.
As we’ve already talked about them, we’ll start with the Saints. Having your Triple-A ball club play 20 minutes down the road is HUGE. The Twins can send players on rehab assignments, send scouts to watch Triple-A games, and call players up/send them down to a team that’s less than a half hour away. This is huge.
Very few teams are this close to their top minor league level, giving the Twins a significant advantage. They also are a lot closer to their other teams too. Their Double-A club has resided closer to the Atlantic Ocean than Minnesota since the team moved away from Washington. That finally changes in 2021.
The move to Wichita was a big one for a couple of reasons (we’ll get to the other ones later), but the new location is fantastic. A ten hour drive may seem like a lot, but it’s five hours less than the one to Rochester (and 9 hours left than the one to Pensacola). A two hour flight is half the time too. That allows the Twins to see their guys a lot more often.
In addition, Ft. Myers and Cedar Rapids swapped levels because the Florida State League became a part of Lower-A. This means that higher rated Twins prospects are now four hours away as opposed to 25. This will be extremely nice for the franchise and for fans who want to see the teams’ future stars.
Reason No. 3 to Love the new Minnesota Twins System: Ft. Myers sticks around
With all this change, it’s good to see at least one thing stay the same. The Minnesota Twins have had Ft. Myers (whether they were the Miracle or Mighty Mussels) around as a Single-A club since 1993, the 17th longest affiliation of any minor league team.
The Twins relationship with Ft. Myers has always been strong, and it continues today. The Twins play their Spring Training games at Hammond Stadium and use Ft. Myers as one of their main scouting posts.
After losing Elizabethton (the fifth-longest tenured minor league team) due to the ending of all half-season rookie leagues, it’s nice to know that Spring Training in Ft. Myers will give us some familiarity in 2021.
Reason No. 4 to Love the new Minnesota Twins System: The New Wind Surge Stadium in Wichita
The Minnesota Twins lost their Double-A team to the Miami Marlins, which left them looking for a new team. The Wichita Wind Surge, formerly the New Orleans Baby Cakes, were the Marlins Triple-A team up until 2019, when they moved to Wichita and built a brand new stadium in the hopes of becoming a different franchise’s Triple-A team.
Then 2020 happened. They were unable to use their brand new stadium and were relegated to Miami’s Double-A team. With the Wahoos taking over that role in 2021 (better fit geologically), this left the Wind Surge without a Major league team.
Enter the Minnesota Twins. The Minnesota Twins have one of the better Double-AA rosters in the minors, a group that finished seven wins over .500 the last time they played. Throw in Top 25 prospect Royce Lewis and this is a good team to bring in fans. This is a good consolation prize.
For the Twins, it’s an even bigger win. They get their Double-AA team along the new I-35 pipeline they’ve developed and they get a brand new stadium for their minor leaguers. I don’t see this affiliation lasting very long (Wichita wants to be Triple-AAA badly), but it’ll be a good one for 2021.
Reason No. 5 to Love the new Minnesota Twins System: Minor League Baseball is back
I finish off this list with the most basic reason ever, but probably the most true: Minor League Baseball is back, and more exciting than ever. Minor League baseball has often felt far away to Twins fans, and while it’s fun to check in on top prospects now and then, minor league baseball mattered even less than Town Ball in Minnesota.
That’s no longer the case. Minor League Baseball was taken from us in 2020, and for me at least, I really felt like I missed out. As the song goes:
“Don’t it always seem to go, That you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone”
That was my experience for 2020. I will be following the Minnesota Twins’ minor league teams far more often in 2021, and now that the Triple-AAA team is now right across the Mississippi River, I might even get season tickets.
The Minnesota Twins and the St. Paul Saints have given us a one of a kind opportunity that we haven’t ever had before, and I plan to take advantage of it. I hope all the other Minnesota Twins fans do too.
Next. Minnesota Twins: The Top 8 Greatest Left-Handed Hitters in Twins History. dark