Minor League Opening Day 2016

I love Opening Day! I believe that Opening Day should be a Monday and that it should be a national holiday. However, for me, I get significantly more excited about Minor League Opening Day.

Instead of just following one game and one box score, I get to follow five teams and their games and their box scores. Instead of following one 25-man roster, we can follow five, 24-or-25-man rosters. We know what Opening Day means to big leaguers. Does it mean anything different to minor leaguers?

Over the weekend, the Twins affiliates announced their preliminary Opening Day rosters. Moments after each was released, Twins Daily posted our preview for that team. They are here:

• Rochester Red Wings
  
• Chattanooga Lookouts
  
• Ft. Myers Miracle
  
• Cedar Rapids Kernels
  
• NEW-Extended Spring Training
  

One thing is apparently from perusing the rosters. The Twins system is strong and deep but with so much of that young talent already at or near the big league level, it becomes more difficult for players to move up. Sure, the top prospects are going to be moved and pushed at the rate at which they are deemed ready for the next level. They are not going to be blocked. But, as Steve Buhr wrote last night, others are just going to have to go back and earn their promotions again.

As is true in the big leagues, minor league Opening Day rosters are just that, the rosters for the teams for the first game. They are certainly subject to change. There will be injuries. There will be great performers who will get promoted. There will be players who don’t perform who could move down a level.

That’s part of the excitement for me as a fan and as someone who has now followed this organization and its minor league system for over a dozen years. You just never know what will happen. A player who starts the season in AA could theoretically end the season in High-A, AA, AAA, the big leagues, in another organization or out of baseball. There will likely be a few examples of each at the various levels in 2016.

Opening Day is about a fresh start, a new season and all of the possibilities that come with it. There are always several minor leaguers who go from relative unknown at this time a year ago to highly-regarded prospect today. Who will those guys be? It’s hard to know but we can all post our guesses.

For now, here is the Twins minor league affiliate’s schedule for Opening Day with the starters listed:

On Wednesday, Miracle manager Jeff Smith announced his rotation. Following Gonsalves will be Kohl Stewart, Tyler Jay, Keaton Steele, Felix Jorge, and Randy Rosario.

I spent nine days in Ft. Myers and spent a lot of that time watching the minor league action. While there were unfortunately several minor leaguers released, there were a lot of players who really stood out. I’ll save those thoughts for another article.

Here at Twins Daily, we take a lot of pride in the minor league coverage that we provide. Each and every day throughout the minor league season, we will again post our Minor League Report. Jeremy Nygaard, Cody Christie, Eric Pleiss, Steve Lien and I will write those highlighting pitching performances, hitters with multi-hit games, home runs and game stories. Along with that, we’ll present monthly awards for top hitters, starting pitchers and relief pitchers.

These players deserve to be recognized. The get paid almost literally nothing. When I wrote my first Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook seven or eight years ago, I wrote the below, and I have included it in every book since because it is important to know.

So what does Minor League Opening Day mean to you? If you played, what do you think it would be like for you?

I asked several Twins minor leaguers what Opening Day means to them. Their responses are below.

Edgar Corcino, OF, Ft. Myers Miracle:

Travis Harrison, OF, Chattanooga Lookouts:

Dalton Hicks, 1B, Chattanooga Lookouts:

Sean Miller, Infielder, Cedar Rapids Kernels:

Logan Darnell, LHP, Rochester Red Wings:

Trey Vavra, 1B, Ft. Myers Miracle:

Adam Brett Walker, OF/DH, Rochester Red Wings:

David Hurlbut, LHP, Chattanooga Lookouts:

Keaton Steele, RHP, Ft. Myers Miracle:

Bryant Hayman, C, Cedar Rapids Kernels:

Trevor Hildenberger, RH RP, Ft. Myers Miracle:

LaMonte Wade, OF, Cedar Rapids Kernels:

Austin Diemer, OF, Ft. Myers Miracle:

Zack Tillery, RHP, Cedar Rapids Kernels:

Ryan Walker, Infielder, Ft. Myers Miracle:

Aaron Slegers, RHP, Chattanooga Lookouts:

Ryan Eades, RHP, Chattanooga Lookouts:

Niko Goodrum, Infielder, Chattanooga Lookouts:

Todd Van Steensel, RHP, Ft. Myers Miracle:

Zach Granite, OF, Chattanooga Lookouts:

Brandon Peterson, RHP, Chattanooga Lookouts:

Ryan O'Rourke, LHP, Rochester Red Wings

Jason Adam, RHP, Chattanooga Lookouts

And we get to watch all of it from afar. That said, if you’re in the Twin Cities, I have to point out that you can watch it from the seats at Perfect Game Field at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. Count on a drive that’ll take four to five hours, depending on where you’re located. The Kernels staff does a great job and makes the game fun. In addition, you get to watch young players on their way up. Someday, you may see them again on Fox Sports North. Click here for the Kernels schedule and here to order tickets.

And be sure to stop by Twins Daily every day throughout the season to keep up with everything going on in the system.

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