It seems like only yesterday that the St. Paul Saints were the crown jewel of independent baseball in Minnesota. However, 2025 will be their fifth season as the Minnesota Twins Triple-A affiliate. Since then, the old ownership guard of Marv Goldklang, Mike Veeck, and Bill Murray have left the franchise’s owner title in the hands of Diamond Baseball Holdings.
Things have changed behind the scenes for St. Paul, but the atmosphere of a Saints game has remained consistent over their 32 years in the league. The whacky antics for ushertainers, singing along with the International Man of Mystery Seigo Masubuchi, and a sty in the dugout holding the fan-named pig are still a part of every home game.
The biggest difference from the last iteration of the Saints in Indy Ball five years ago is the talent of the players. Plenty of Twins’ top prospects have had their playing time in St. Paul over the last four seasons.
José Miranda went on a tear, posting a .343/.397/.563 triple slash in 80 games in 2021. Louie Varland and Simeon Woods Richardson dominated in their late-season call-ups in 2022. Royce Lewis crushed against Triple-A pitching as he quickly returned from his ACL tear, which kept him out for a year. Last year, Brooks Lee and Zebby Matthews had meteoric rises to earn their MLB debuts.
These prospects experienced success on separate timelines, only occasionally crossing paths in St. Paul. However, things might be different this season as six of Minnesota’s top 10 prospects on Aaron Gleeman’s top 40 prospect list could begin their 2025 seasons in St. Paul.
Emmanuel Rodriguez (second on Gleeman’s list), Luke Keaschall (third), Zebby Matthews (fourth), Andrew Morris (fifth), Marco Raya (eighth), and Cory Lewis (10th) are all expected to be on the Saints roster. Keaschall is the outlier. In Spring Training, he will still be recovering from the Tommy John surgery he had in July.
However, the most exciting addition to the Saints’ roster will be if Minnesota calls Walker Jenkins up to Triple-A this year. Many indicators lean towards him receiving the call to St. Paul as a replacement for Rodriguez when the Twins call him up to make his major-league debut. Eight of Minnesota’s top 10 prospects on Gleeman’s list all have the potential to play in St. Paul at some point in 2025, with Charlee Soto and 2024 No. 1 pick Kaelen Culpepper being the outliers.
Connor Prielipp is the only other player on Gleeman’s Top 10 Twins prospects list that hasn’t been mentioned. The left-handed pitcher has been battling injuries since he was at the University of Alabama. Prielipp was finally healthy in the last two months of 2024. He posted a 2.70 ERA and had a 15.8 strikeouts per 9 rate in just 23 ⅓ innings. If he remains healthy and can replicate these results to start 2025, there’s no question he’d also arrive in St. Paul at some point during the season.
If all bodes well for these prospects in 2025, this would be the highest number of top 10 prospects who have spent at least some part of their season with the Saints since becoming a Twins affiliate.
That’s before mentioning other talented prospects who will be playing alongside them: RHPers Travis Adams and Kyle Bischoff, LHP Jaylen Nowlin, C Jeferson Morales, INF Payton Eeles, and OF Carson McCusker.
The Saints will have manager Toby Gardenhire at the helm. He’s the only coach who has been with the Saints all five seasons since becoming a Twins affiliate. Tyler Smarslok had been his bench coach since 2021, but the Miami Marlins hired him as their first base coach.
St. Paul’s new coaching staff includes pitching coaches Carlos Hernández and Jonas Lovin, who the Twins promoted from Double-A Wichita and High-A Cedar Rapids. Hernández and Lovin have worked with most pitchers who will be starting their seasons in the Saints’ starting rotation.
Hitting and development coach Drew Marcuzzo is the newest member of the coaching staff and one of the Twins organization’s newest faces. Marcuzzo coached four of the last five seasons as a volunteer assistant coach and camp coordinator at the University of Nebraska.
In 2024, Marcuzzo was the assistant coach for the University of Akron, which has produced more major league pitchers than hitters. JT Brubaker and Chris Bassitt are among its alums. Marcuzzo will have some learning curves ahead now that he’s in pro ball. However, Lovin and Schlechter came from the college coaching ranks before joining the Twins org.
Twins fans are getting restless with the lack of Minnesota’s moves in the offseason. However, they have major-league experienced talent surrounding their talented pool of prospects who will begin their seasons at Triple-A. The best part is the Twins will have these prospects playing their home games only 15 minutes away from Target Field in St. Paul instead of 1,011 miles away in Rochester, N.Y., like it was only six years ago.
The minor leagues usually prioritize developing players over winning. Still, with a Triple-A World Series in early October every year, the players who spend most of their seasons at this level always play to win and get to the championship series.
Minnesota’s talent pool will have spread into St. Paul throughout the season and will likely give the Saints their best chance to contend for the title since 2023. Twins fans should seize every opportunity to witness the next generation of Minnesota Twins players at this level to see what the future holds for the franchise.
