With Spring Training just around the corner, announcements needed to be made for minor league coaching staffs as well. Change has trickled in through that portion of the organization as well.

Saints remain familiar at Twins Triple-A home

In 2021 the St. Paul Saints became the Minnesota Twins Triple-A affiliate. A reshuffling of the minor leagues brought the highest farm team closer to the big leagues than any other. Stability amongst managers has been a reality dating back to the indy ball days and continues with their affiliation.

Despite some conversations about a move to the big league staff, manager Toby Gardenhire will again lead the Saints. Shawn Schlecter, his hitting coach, is the only returning member from the 2024 staff, however.

Back Again, Gardenhire Returns For Fifth Season As Saints Manager, Joined Again By @ShawnSchlechter, Three New Coaches On Staff

Story: https://t.co/OLhwut0GfA pic.twitter.com/2tQrRq30eW

— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) January 21, 2025

Drew Marcuzzo joins the club as a hitting and development coach. It is his first year in professional baseball having previously spent 12 years as a college coach.

The pitching coaches have been promoted from within the organization. Carlos Hernandez moves up from Double-A Wichita while Jonas Lovin joins from Single-A Cedar Rapids.

Related: Minnesota Twins Sign Veteran Lefty to Battle for Bullpen Role

St. Paul lost hitting coach Tyler Smarslok to the Miami Marlins as their big league first base coach. Pitching coach Peter Larson took a role in the Yankees’ minor league system.

Wind Surge have new digs

The Wichita Wind Surge have a new manager in 2025, but they will play in a renamed ballpark. Rather than rocking with Riverfront Stadium, the new name is Equity Bank Park.

We've got NEWS!! 🎉

Read More Here: https://t.co/mh8Rk3HfJo#feelthesurge #playdowntown #milb pic.twitter.com/bZVcZydQRJ

— Wichita Wind Surge (@WindSurgeICT) January 21, 2025

Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns a significant amount of minor league teams (including the Saints), announced the new partnership with Wichita-headquartered Equity Bank.

Ramon Borrego moved to the big league club and Brian Dinkelman is taking his place. The former Twins farmhand has had a successful run as the High-A manager for the past five seasons.

⚾ Excited to announce our 2025 Coaching Staff! Let’s make this season one to remember! 🙌#feelthesurge #playdowntown #milb pic.twitter.com/26kVIzZ0Wb

— Wichita Wind Surge (@WindSurgeICT) January 22, 2025

Dinkelman will rock with Andrew Cresci as his hitting coach. Cresci joins the organization after spending three seasons with Houston. Yeison Perez returns to his role as hitting and development coach.

Related: Minnesota Twins Legend Escapes Elimination from 2025 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot

Wichita goes with a pair of pitching coaches in the form of Ryan Ricci and Jesus Sanchez. The former joined the organization last season while the latter has coached short season leagues with the Twins for the past two years.

Twins have a new face in Cedar Rapids

Unlike the St. Paul Saints, Cedar Rapids will have a new manager in 2025. Brian Meyer earned a promotion after spending the last four seasons with Single-A Fort Myers. He was named the 2022 Florida State League Manager of the Year.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels are excited to announce our 2025 coaching staff in conjunction with the Minnesota Twins.

To read more, visit https://t.co/Trne6y8hdj. pic.twitter.com/T9IH2qMg7t

— Cedar Rapids Kernels (@CRKernels) January 21, 2025

The Kernels will have a pair of pitching coaches, and Argenis Angulo is back for his second season with the club. He is joined by Hunter Townsend, who is making the leap to professional baseball. He had been working recently with Tread Athletics. Some of their notable clients include Cole Ragans and Mitch Keller.

Related: Minnesota Twins Reveal Broadcast Team for First Season on MLB TV

On the hitting side of things, C.J. Baker returns for his second season with the Kernels and second in professional baseball. Julian Gonzalez is the hitting and development coach, joining the Minnesota organization after previously working in the Orioles’ system.

A new manager for the Mighty Mussels

The longtime Fort Myers Miracle received a refresh in changing their name to the Mighty Mussels back in 2019. Brian Meyer had been the manager up until receiving a promotion this year. Seth Feldman will now step in and take over.

Feldman worked multiple seasons with the Dominican Summer League Twins, and then spent the past three years in Fort Myers managing the Complex League Team. Feldman brings significant youth to the role at just 32 years old.

Welcome to the Mussels, Seth Feldman!!

Introducing our 2025 coaching staff, complete with a brand new skipper!

Learn about the whole staff here ⤵️
📰 https://t.co/FsjMUgLDqo pic.twitter.com/SkP15DSr3i

— Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (@MightyMussels) January 21, 2025

Both hitting coach Luis Reyes and pitching coach Richard Salazar return to the Mighty Mussels. They are now joined by new hitting coach Andrew Parks, and new pitching coach Anders Dzurak.

Related: Multiple Minnesota Twins Jersey Number Changes for 2025

This is the first season that Parks has been in the Twins organization, while Dzurak spent the past two seasons as a pitching coach for the FCL team.

The Minnesota Twins season is already well-underway but that’s not the case for its minor league affiliates. Their seasons will start this week but before these affiliates play any games, they need players. All four of the Twins’ minor league teams (A, A, AA, AAA) released their Opening Day rosters today. Let’s take a peak at where the Twins’ top prospects (MLB.com) landed.

Remember, the Twins’ top prospect, Royce Lewis, is out for the season, following knee surgery. Alex Kirilloff, their #2 prospect, is already with the big league club.

Low-A: Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

The Mighty Mussels announced their Opening Day roster, including former first-round pick Keoni Cavaco, among others: pic.twitter.com/w2H03ZtlBL

— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) May 1, 2021

High-A: Cedar Rapids Kernels

Here is the opening day roster for Cedar Rapids: pic.twitter.com/xs3m68bPEp

— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) May 1, 2021

AA: Wichita Wind Surge

Double-A Wichita also released its roster today.

Notables:

Dakota Chalmers
Tom Hackimer
Cole Sands
Austin Schulfer
Josh Winder
Jose Miranda
Gilberto Celestino pic.twitter.com/nAEk9dS0ej

— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) May 1, 2021

AAA: St. Paul Saints

Here’s the roster for the St Paul Saints: pic.twitter.com/AqzoiQqL0I

— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) May 1, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

I don’t know how closely you pay attention to the Minnesota Twins’ minor leagues, but since 1993, the Fort Myers Miracle has been the their single-a affiliate. It was a rocky history for the Miracle Baseball club before that so I’m sure they have appreciated the 15+ years of stability. But clearly, someone thought they needed a chnage.

It makes sense. You know, sometimes you just need an update. Not just to the mascot or a little updating of your logo… nah… a full fucking revamp. So, if you are going to completely makeover your team’s nickname and mascot… where do you look? You look locally, of course. We’ve seen some logo changes here in Minnesota recently… but we haven’t seen a team change their entire nickname in a long time. Hockey fans are still bitter about it…

What’s more local and well-known to Fort Myers Florida, than a mussel, inside of a clam or shell?

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A new era of baseball has begun…the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels have arrived! pic.twitter.com/ChNNJuzfaK

— Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (@MiracleBaseball) December 3, 2019

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And you can’t just say “Fort Myers Muscles”… No, that’s fucking boring. The “Mighty Mussels”. That’s where it’s at.

Your new Minnesota Twins single-A Fort Myers affiliate is named the “Mighty Mussels”. Get your merch HERE. It’s flying off the shelves. 

“Mussel Up”

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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This was a really random find yesterday and I’m not sure how many people have seen this important piece of MN baseball news yet…

Let’s start here: The MLB and MiLB (Minor League Baseball) are in the middle of talks for a new Professional Baseball Agreement (PBA), which is the contract between the two, that governs the minor league system of Major League Baseball. The new one, which will need to be in place after the 2o20 season, is sure to be the biggest shake-up to the minor league system in 20+ years. Baseball America has been covering these discussions for over a year now. Their latest update yesterday, had this bombshell of MN baseball news hidden at the bottom.

Amongst a bunch of massive changes that include single-A teams moving to triple-A (and everywhere in-between), the cutting of many minor league affiliates altogether, and the complete rearranging of leagues and geography, to focus on less travel and smarter team affiliations… there was one little tid-bit that most people, outside of Minnesota and Texas, may have glossed right over.

I’m NOT talking about the pro baseball team that plays in Minneapolis… but rather, the one that plays across the river in St. Paul:

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Whoa. Latest proposal from MLB side, to replace current MLB/MiLB PBA and minor league structure (up after 2020), apparently includes bringing the @StPaulSaints into MLB affiliation and out of the Independent League…. https://t.co/mpeQq36ksQ pic.twitter.com/4nsE9E4h3e

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 18, 2019

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I don’t know of any other Independent League teams that are currently operating out of St. Paul, so I’m going to assume they are talking about the Saints. Anyone who follows or keeps an eye on the St. Paul Saints, even from a distance, knows how successful that organization is. They’ve found their niche market, built a new and beautiful ballpark, understand the importance of being different, and they work their asses off to get fans in the seats. It looks like it could pay off in a massive way, too.

The Saints are a successful organization and definitely turn a profit but I’m not sure how many of their competitors do. There can’t be that much money in an Independent League baseball organization. The prospect of being affiliated with the MLB cash cow, under the right circumstances, has to be exciting.

After tweeting this yesterday, some have brought up the idea of using the Saints as the AAA affiliate for the Twins.

Before you laugh, you should read the article that this news came from. There are going to be wholesale changes throughout the minor leagues. I don’t know how much the final agreement will look compared to this proposal, but it’s clear the MLB wants big change. A push for smarter alignment between affiliates is one of the complexities they are focusing on but the biggest one is $$$$$$$. The St. Paul Saints are already a brand name in Minnesota, they make more money than the others in their league, they are right across the river (if you need movement quickly), and they have a loyal fan base.

In a newly aligned MiLB world, it almost makes too much sense.

We touched on this news last night on “Minnesota Sports and Stuff” along with previewing the Gophers and Vikings games this weekend.

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Minnesota Sports & Stuff is our new YouTube show that airs every weekday between 3 PM and 7PM (usually closer to 3-4 PM – SUBSCRIBE).

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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