TWINS MINOR LEAGUE AFFILIATES
St. Paul Saints (Class AAA): This is the closest geographic relationship for an MLB top farm team; Target Field and CHS Field are only 10.6 miles apart. The Saints, who have played independent baseball for the past 28 seasons, are the Twins' 13th AAA affiliate. They were eighth among all minor league teams in average attendance in 2019. Toby Gardenhire would have managed the Twins' AAA team in Rochester, N.Y., last year.
Wichita Wind Surge (Class AA): Riverfront Stadium opened last year and was supposed to house Miami's AAA team but sat empty because of the minor league shutdown. Wichita has been home to a baseball team since 1887. Ramon Barrego was set to be the Twins' AA manager in 2020.
Cedar Rapids Kernels (Class A): The Kernels will be "high" Class A, with most of its players having gone through Fort Myers first. The Kernels play at 5,300-seat Veterans Memorial Stadium, which opened in 2002.
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (Class A): Fort Myers will be "low" Class A, meaning just above entry level for most of the team's prospects. The Mussels play at Hammond Stadium at the Twins' spring training complex.
Rookie levels: The Twins will have short season teams in Fort Myers and in the Dominican Republic, where they have an academy. The team they lost in the condensing of minor leagues was Elizabethton, Tenn., in the rookie-level Appalachian League.
