Reusse: St. Cloud remains a popular baseball destination in ever-expanding Northwoods League

ST. CLOUD – The Northwoods League seemed to have settled on a nice square number of teams with the additions of the Royal Oak Leprechauns in suburban Detroit and the Badlands Big Sticks in Dickinson, N.D., in 2024. That gave the nation’s largest summer baseball league for collegiate players 24 teams, a dozen in two Great Lakes divisions and a dozen in two Great Plains divisions.

Co-founder Dick Radatz Jr., the son of Harmon Killebrew’s least favorite relief pitcher to face, has never been fazed by arithmetic when it comes to awarding expansion franchises for a fee (now more than $1 million). He has awarded a 25th franchise to Richmond, Ind., for 2026.

The 10-team Cape Cod League is still the most prestigious in recruiting players, but the number of standouts that have come through the Northwoods and found success in the big leagues is ultra-impressive.

Often mentioned in tributes to the league is that the starters in the 2017 MLB All-Star Game — Max Scherzer and Chris Sale — both pitched for the La Crosse Loggers. And they are both still at it eight years later.

The Northwoods remains the favored choice behind the Cape for many players and college coaches, although a lengthy schedule — 72 games from late May until early August with four off days — does have an impact on the rosters later in the summer.

Scott Schreiner, general manager of the St. Cloud Rox since 2012 and among three ownership partners, said: “There was a time when rosters were 25 players. Now it’s 39, to cover players getting here late from their college seasons or going back early — because of innings pitched, or just the wear of going directly from a college season to our leagues."

The standings also have an impact. The Rox clinched the best record in the Great Plains Division at 47-21 and enter the playoffs Sunday. They have lost a few players, but not nearly as many as did the Willmar Stingers — eliminated during the week and not crowded at all in the visitors dugout at Joe Faber Field on Thursday night.

There’s a promotion almost every night; this time it was a packaged “thunder stick” noisemaker. A night earlier, it was an appearance by pro wrestling legend Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, to sign autographs.

Most of St. Cloud’s recruiting of players comes from long-time connections with college coaches. And they have a track record to sell.

Infielder Brice Matthews came in 2021 after his freshman season at Nebraska. “He had an excellent summer for us, then went back to Nebraska and his sophomore year wasn’t good,” Schreiner said. “He was going to go to the Cape, and the team rescinded its offer, and he came back here.”

Matthews was outstanding again in St. Cloud, tore it up as a college junior and became a first-round draft choice with Houston. He was called up to the Astros on July 11, after Jeremy Peña was injured and before Houston traded for the services of Carlos Correa from the Twins.

And there was Charlie Condon: He came to the Rox in 2022 after redshirting at Georgia. He drove in 68 runs and has credited the experience in St. Cloud for turning around his baseball trajectory.

The roster now trying to win the Northwoods playoffs for this season includes the following:

• Wilmis Castro, younger brother to Willi Castro, the Twins’ play-anywhere standout until their July 31 purge. Wilmis was a late addition to the roster — infield or outfield — and plans to stay here to play for Pat Dolan at St. Cloud State.

“It’s a higher level of baseball than I’ve played,” Castro said. “I like this team. I have a terrific host family. Everything’s perfect.”

• Jackson Cooke, catcher and first base, playing for the University of Pittsburgh. He’s from Edina and his father is Matt Cooke, the NHL agitator who ended his career with the Wild. And that combination — Edina, NHL career — never tempted him to pursue hockey.

“I started playing baseball at age 9 and loved it from the start,” Jackson Cooke said. “This is my third year of summer ball and it’s been excellent here. Great team, great host family with a six-bedroom house. Three of us there and we have the upstairs.”

In his 2008 Toyota 4Runner that’s approaching 200,000 miles. “Nothing can stop that machine,” said Robertson, who is scheduled to start Game 1 of the playoffs at Mankato.

• Brandon Jaenke, closer, four years at tiny Viterbo College in La Crosse, Wis., and now set to use a final year of eligibility with the Gophers. He will arrive at the U with a Rox team record of 15 saves (and counting).

“I was 5-foot-7 in high school and threw 80; then I had a growth spurt,” Jaenke said. “I’m now 6-foot-4 and throw 91 to 94.”

What’s your main weapon, future Gopher? “The 6-to-12 curveball is my best pitch,” he said.