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.