St. Paul – Danny Marcuzzo has spent his Saturdays in the fall enjoying time with his wife and kids, and avidly watching college football. When he signed on to become the St. Paul Saints’ hitting development coach last winter, he knew it would considerably reduce his family time and his ability to watch college football Saturdays.
Then, as the 2025 season wound down in late August, he was presented with an opportunity to extend the season a bit longer. He will serve as a coach with the Peoria Javelinas, a team featuring Twins players in the Arizona Fall League. As much as Marcuzzo enjoys watching Nebraska every Saturday, it wasn’t an opportunity he could refuse to pass up.
“I guess I’m a glutton for punishment for asking for a little bit more,” Marcuzzo joked. “So I’m very excited. You know, Drew McPhail called me, and it’s one of those where, ‘Hey, we thought of you in this position, we’d love you to do it. Here’s the track record of the guys who have done it. Here’s what it looks like when you’re going to be there.’”
The job offer was easier to accept since his family had made Scottsdale their off-season home the previous winter and had already planned to remain there. Marcuzzo joins the likes of Twins top prospects Hendry Mendez, Billy Amick, and six other prospects for the next seven weeks in the Arizona Complex Fields.
He took in some games last season when former Saints bench coach Tyler Smarslok was managing the Salt River Rafters to the AFL Championship title. Smarslok left the Twins this last off-season to become the Miami Marlins’ first base and base running coach. But the two got to know each other for the first time during last year’s AFL, and Smarslok left Marcuzzo with plenty of advice on what to expect with Toby Gardenhire and the Saints.
“He was actually the last guy I interviewed with,” said Marcuzzo. “They were playing two days later just down the road from where I was living, so I went and talked to him before the game, and watched an entire game, and got to see all of that. He was a great person for me, with me stepping into the role he had the last four years in a way, to kind of understand the transition to the St. Paul Saints.”
“He’s been great,” said Gardenhire. “Danny, you know, he’s been around baseball for a long time. It’s his first year in pro ball, but he’s been doing baseball stuff for a long time. Any time you get guys with as much experience, whether it’s professional baseball, college baseball, or whatever it is. You’re going to get a lot out of them, and Danny’s been awesome.”
This season was Marcuzzo’s first in pro ball. His playing days ended at Western Illinois University in 2012, and his coaching career began at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, where he played before Western Illinois and holds the program’s career and single-season home run records. Marcuzzo has had to make plenty of adjustments, but the transition from a 56-game schedule to 150 has taken the most time to get used to.
“It’s crazy that it’s still going right now, college football is on,” Marcuzzo said with a chuckle. “But with these professional guys, they really take control of their careers. It’s been fun to see the different routines that they do in the cages, what they do to get their bodies ready every single day.”
For his first season in pro ball, Marcuzzo has worked alongside all types of hitters you come across at Triple-A. The blazing hot prospects on a fast track to the majors, such as Luke Keaschall, Walker Jenkins, and Gabriel Gonzalez. The struggling veterans who need a reset, like Jose Miranda and Jonah Bride. Some players are grinding in the minors for years to get their first major-league opportunity, like Ryan Fitzgerald.
It’s a stark contrast from the typical 18- to 22-year-olds Marcuzzo has worked with for over a decade in college ball. He quickly learned the differences that come with helping a professional baseball player in any situation, compared to those of a college kid just trying to make the team.
“Instead of having to direct everyone on what to do, I’m there more to help them with their journey whenever they need something,” said Maruzzo. “There might be guys that go two weeks without ever asking for anything, but you’d better be prepared the moment they need something. So that’s been the biggest adjustment for me personally since I’ve been in professional baseball.”
Players have come to Marcuzzo for help with their swings or any other aspect of their game. For example, Payton Eeles missed most of spring training and the first two months of the season as he recovered from knee surgery. Eeles was trying to catch the timing of his swing back up, and the mental struggles that came with going 15-for-67 (.224 batting average) in his first 19 games back with the Saints.
“[I was] feeling like I had to catch up and be the player I was before, and kind of chasing the past,” said Eeles. “It’s kind of tough to do that when you have all these eyes on you.
“And you’re trying to do things, and you’re playing against really good players. I think that’s where I learned the most is how to deal with that stuff. Thankfully, guys like Schlech (hitting coach Shawn Schlechter) have helped me a ton on the hitting side of things. Danny, too, [said], ‘Just go out there and be the player you are and not try to chase anything.’”
“We have a job to do to make sure we get these guys prepared and ready to go play,” said Marcuzzo. “It’s made it easy to come to work every day, to be the same guy every day, to not let the emotions get too up and down. So that’s been what I’ll take away from here and again, to see the lessons I’ve learned this year and the failures that I’ve had, make those adjustments so I can be ready to help the guys next year, too.”
Those will be things that Marcuzzo will continue working on with Eeles and other Saints players, as well as with players in the AFL. It will also be a good opportunity for him to learn more about other organizations’ coaches and how they approach the game, similarly or differently, compared to what he has done in his first year with the Saints.
“He’s going to get a chance to get to talk to coaches from other from other organizations,” said Gardenhire. “Which I think is one of the most underrated parts of doing that is that you get to be around guys from other organizations too and talk to them about how they run things and do things and get some different ideas, and he’s going to enjoy it.”
Suppose Marcuzzo can bring the same success Smarslok did last year as the hitting coach for Peroia and win another title in the AFL. Then, he’ll have plenty of time to celebrate that title and a few Saturdays left in the year to get back in the routine of watching college football and enjoy his family time.
