In his three seasons as a minor league manager, Toby Gardenhire has never finished with a losing record. The St. Paul Saints hope he can go 4-for-4.
Gardenhire, who guided the Saints to a 67-63 finish in 2021, good for third place in the Triple-A Midwest, will return for a second season in St. Paul, the Saints and Twins announced on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old son of former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire — who also compiled winning records in his three seasons as a minor league manager — managed the Twins' Class A affiliates in Cedar Rapids (2018) and Fort Myers (2019) before taking over St. Paul last year, and has a cumulative record of 218-184 (.542). Gardenhire helped prospects like Ryan Jeffers and Gilberto Celestino develop last season, and managed nearly three dozen players who also appeared in a Twins uniform in 2021.
Gardenhire will have a new hitting coach, after the Orioles hired Matt Borgschulte to work with their major leaguers. Ryan Smith, who worked with Twins prospects at Class AA Wichita in 2021, has been promoted to St. Paul.
Cibney Bello, who has coached in Minnesota's system for six seasons, returns for a second year as Gardenhire's pitching coach. Meanwhile, Virgil Vasquez has been promoted from Wichita to serve as the Saints' second pitching coach, replacing Mike McCarthy, who was hired to work with the Padres' Triple-A team in 2022. Vasquez has worked for seven seasons in the Twins organization and has coached most of the Twins' top pitching prospects.
Tyler Smarslok will return for a second season as the Saints' defensive coach.
The Saints are scheduled to open the 2022 season, their second as a Twins affiliate, in Louisville on April 5. The home opener at CHS Field is April 12 against Indianapolis.
The Twins' other minor league teams announced their coaching rosters as well.
Ramon Borrego returns as manager at Wichita after a first place finish in the Class AA Central North Division in 2021. He's in his 11th season as a manager in the organization.
Brian Dinkelman is back at high Class A Cedar Rapids after a 67-53 season. He's in his third season leading the Kernels. Brian Meyer will be in his second season as manager at low Class A Fort Myers, and Seth Feldman will head the Florida Complex League Twins after managing the Dominican Summer League affiliate the past two seasons. Rafael Martinez will take over the Dominican team.
Two members of the Twins coaching staff in 2021 will be moved to minor league leadership roles. Kevin Morgan returns to his previous post as minor league field coordinator. Edgar Varela, the Twins' hitting coach the past two seasons, will be the coordinator of instruction.
