Minnesota Twins: 5 Reasons to Love the Twins’ new Minor League System
By Otto Johnson
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.