St. Paul, Minn. – The 2024 baseball season is over in Minnesota. The Twins ended their season on a 12-27 slide to finish 82-80. However, a week ago, the St. Paul Saints completed a less disappointing outcome at home.
They finished their fourth season as the Twins Triple-A affiliate with a 70-79, their second-worst record in these four years. Manager Toby Gardenhire has been at the helm for the Saints for all four seasons. He’s seen a lot happen from players moving up and down the majors, but maybe not as frequently as this season.
“Some of the guys going up to the big leagues for the first time, getting [DaShawn] Keirsey up there, getting [Michael] Helman up there, Brooks Lee,” Gardenhire said on what he’ll remember the most from this year. “Some of these guys really deserved it, and we had a bunch on the team this year. That’s always been the highlight for me, getting the chance to tell those guys they’re going up. Then to see guys like Randy Dobnak get back up there. Those are the special ones.”
Pitching coach Pete Larson worked alongside Gardenhire for a second season in a row. Minnesota’s collective 5.08 ERA doesn’t properly represent the overall success of the pitching staff this season despite the International League’s inflated hitting numbers. However, the young arms that were a part of the rotation from David Festa, Zebby Matthews, Andrew Morris, etc., outshine the bad numbers on paper.
“It’s getting them ready and having them contribute up there, seeing what David did, Zebby, even though he was only here for about a month,” Larson said. “I think it’s just been really special, and we try to keep it rolling and keep getting guys ready. It’s the biggest thing.”
Hitting coach Shawn Schlechter was the rookie on the Triple-A coaching staff this season. Schlechter earned the call-up to St. Paul following his fifth season in the Twins organization. Many of the Saints hitters, including Yunior Severino, Keirsey, Winkel, etc., had the opportunity to work with him in Double-A Wichita last season.
“We’ve had plenty of guys that have had their spurts and made adjustments,” said Schlechter. “Jair Camargo had a really hot first third of the season, another guy who got the phone call to go to the big leagues. Yunior Severino, digging the hole he dug at the beginning of the year to turn around and be one of the best hitters in Minor League Baseball in the month of June. Just making those transitions with guys was a ton of fun.”
Despite a 2-4 record in the final series of the season against the Pirates Triple-A team out of Indianapolis, these coaches are still walking away with many positive endings for how some of their players ended the season.
Keirsey remained hot in the final week and just made it back in time to get his first home run in the majors on the final day of the regular season. Payton ‘Electric’ Eeles went 9-for-25 (.360/.467/.720 triple slash) with two home runs, five RBI, and six stolen bases to conclude his breakout prospect season. Plus, the Triple-A debuts of Cory Lewis and Marco Raya gave a glimpse into the future and next wave of the Twins pitching pipeline in the minors.
“I think that’s huge, and they all took their next steps in different ways; Travis (Adams) and Morris being up here a little bit longer, Zebby coming first, but getting Raya’s feet wet, Cory,” Larson said on the pitching pipeline’s arrival to St. Paul. “I think just a really cool piece to it was the way that their seasons are staggered.”
“DK (Keirsey) did a really nice job,” said Gardenhire. “He obviously had a really great year. Payton Eeles was freaking awesome at the end. It was just really fun to watch. He’s just a guy who kept going up and kept going up, just kept impressing people, and even all the way to the last day, he was as good as anybody out there today, and that’s just what he’s been doing for us.”
Another native of the Twin Cities suburbs, Schlechter grew up in Burnsville. His homecoming to St. Paul was one of the most rewarding things the Twins organization has done for him having more time spent with family than ever before.
“[It’s] something I’m not used to is getting to see my nephews and niece grow a little bit,” said Schlechter. “And them coming to the ballpark enjoying games, that fills up my cup at the end of the day. It’s really fun to be back here in a place that I’m familiar with and I love, so I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
With the Twins eliminated from their chance to return to the postseason this year, the 40-man camp in St. Paul closed down Sunday. If the Twins had reached the postseason, they would have kept it open in case any inactive players were needed down the stretch. Gardenhire and Schlechter stayed to keep players warm while Larson returned home with his family to Rochester, New York, to begin their rest and relaxation for the off-season.
“We have a newborn, so it’s just a lot of hanging out and being with him, and I just want to be present and available to help,” said Larson. “We’ll go to our favorite restaurants and a couple of breweries and stuff like that too but just enjoy it, kind of take a couple of weeks to unwind. We’ll watch baseball and the playoffs but it’ll be nice to do it from the living room and just do things that we normally do when we’re home. But it was fun this year, and we’ll definitely take some time to relax.”
Schlechter will have a bit more on his plate as he and his fiance plan and prepare for a wedding on November 2, the possible last day of baseball if the World Series goes to Game 7. He’ll still find time to review this first season at Triple-A, review some of the flaws, and come back better in hopes of returning next season.
“I’ll just enjoy that decompression, review this season, and figure out what do we have to do to not only repeat some of the things we did well this year but where we can grow,” Schlechter said. “Hopefully, they give us quite a bit of time to do that so I’m looking forward to some of that downtime but also I just want to continue to find ways to make these guys better.”
As for Gardenhire and his wife Sarah, unwinding isn’t the term they would describe how they’ll start their off-season, as their two-year-old son will be keeping them busy.
“I don’t know if decompress is the right word when you have a two-year-old, but we’re going to have a lot of fun,” said Gardenhire. “We’re going to sit there and watch Moana on the couch and take naps. That’s what we’re going to do.”
However, they might try out a recipe passed along from Toby’s mom, Carol, which is featured in a Twins family cookbook published in 1992.
“We haven’t had it in a very long time, but I have told my wife about it and my mom has given my wife the recipe and everything,” said Gardenhire. “So maybe Sarah and I will be making it here again this next week.”
