Your Best Guide To Minnesota Twins Spring Training

[John Bonnes]

If you’re a Minnesota Twins fan, and especially if you’re a big enough fan to have found this site, you need to find a way to visit spring training in Fort Myers. If you’re not, I expect it is because you’re not sure what there is to do there. This story, which we’ll run annually on Twins Daily is to help you find the best stuff to do at spring training.I don’t remember which year I first attended spring training, but I remember the exact date when I decided I would never miss it again: February 28th, 2014. I remember that date because we all remember the winter of 2013-14, or as Minnesotan’s refer to it: “that really awful winter.”

 

That doesn’t sound especially harsh, but when Minnesotans single out one winter as really awful, that’s high praise. They’re all really awful. But 2013-14 had the coldest average temperature of any winter since 1978, plus a ton of snow. It also saved the worst for last. February, which is when Minnesotans are desperately searching for a little hope, was an all-time crummy month.

 

When I boarded the plane at MSP that day, I looked at my phone and it was -10 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 42 degrees below the average high for that day. And when I landed in Fort Myers it was 80 and sunny and I was thunderstruck by just how dumb I had been for the previous 47 years of my life.

 

I’ve come to feel strongly that we’re all doing it wrong. We should all escape for at least a long weekend to Fort Myers. And since I also get dozens of people asking me for advice for spring training, I hope this story serves as both a guide and inspiration to plan your own escape.

 

I’ve already covered the weather, but it’s worth pointing out that even if there wasn’t baseball, escaping to 80 and sunny isn’t just nice for the time you’re there, it also lessens the rage with which you shovel out the driveway after that DAMN SNOWPLOW guys comes by AGAIN. It’s the length of the Minnesota winter that is the real killer. Knowing your winter has a definitive break, even temporarily, is incredibly therapeutic.

 

That is all true if there wasn’t baseball. But here’s the thing - there IS baseball. It is probably the most concentrated and accessible baseball you’ll ever experience.

Visiting the CenturyLink Sports Complex

 

Visiting the Twins complex to see players up close is a morning activity. The accessibility is highest in the morning when players walk to and from their practice fields. You can see the route below, but the best place to stake out is over in the concrete area by those columns on the right. That’s where you’ll see a lot of people hanging around by 10 AM or so.

 

Download attachment: Player Fan Path.png

 

The players go out and come back in shifts, usually starting 9:15 or so though sometimes later. They come back in around 11 or noon, and that’s the best time to shake their hands or get an autograph or picture. You have to be patient and you get what you get - the times vary, the players vary, it’s a loosely organized congenial activity. Sometimes they can’t or won’t stop, but often they do. Here are Stephen Gonsalves, Kyle Gibson and Jose Berrios in 2019 all giving autographs as they came back from their morning workouts Saturday morning.

 

Download attachment: Pitchers signing autographs.png

 

Scrumming up with other fans and rubbing elbows with the players is certainly a draw, but it’s also fun to watch the players practice their craft. Want to watch a practice session, including someone like Tom Kelly or Torii Hunter help instruct minor leaguers? You can do that. They even built stands:

 

Download attachment: Practice Field and Stands.png

 

Or want to watch players take batting practice? The batting cages are right here, and you can watch up close through that chain link fence upon which these banners hang.

 

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The same is true of throwing in the bullpen. Here we see La Tortuga waiting for some pitchers to report and work on some of their mechanics.

 

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You don’t have to worry about parking on days where there aren’t games. The stadium doesn’t have any concessions, but most of the action is over by lunchtime, so you have your afternoons free to bake on a beach, if you like.

 

Watching Prospects

 

Any Twins prospect who is on the 40-man roster is with the big league team at the beginning of spring training. And may who are not are still invited as non-roster invitees, so check the spring training roster to see which of your favorite players are with the big league club.

 

But if you are really into prospects, you’ll want to attend spring training starting the second week of March. That’s when the minor league camp starts up, so all of the fields are filled with top prospects and hopeful suspects doing drills and playing games. This includes many of the prospects that began spring training with the big club. When they are whittled off the roster, they move to the minor league complex.

 

If you would like to know which prospects are working out at which level, stop by the minor league office. They have sheets that say which players are working out with which teams, (AA, AAA, etc.) and also the minor league game schedule.

 

Watching Games

And then the games start. Starting the last weekend of February, you will have real live baseball most days from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. There are games most every day, in more intimate minor league stadiums, with prices that are closer to the minors than the majors.

 

Download attachment: Hammond Seats.png

 

Plus, if the Twins aren’t home, Fort Myers is one of the few cities that hosts two minor league teams: the Red Sox park is just a handful of miles away. Or take a one-hour to three-hour road trip to follow the Twins. All the road games are no further than that.

When To Visit

 

Once per day at spring training, you’ll hear a player, Twins employees or media members ask out loud “What the hell day is it today?” The daily routine doesn’t vary much, meaning Tuesdays are the same as Thursdays are the same as Saturdays.

 

That said, you may want to visit at different times during spring training depending on what you want to get out of it.

 

If you want the best access to players, the time to come is before the games start. Pitchers and catchers start their workouts on a Wednesday. The following Monday the batters all need to be there for their workouts, but the truth is most are there several days earlier. Excitement is high, and the players are feeling fresh. The interaction is definitely higher early in spring training.

 

If you want to see games, you have a choice. If you want to see the big names, visit at the end of March when most of the roster cuts have happened. The players who will be making the roster will be getting some extra innings, though they’ll still likely be pulled after two or three at-bats.

 

If you want to see some top prospects, come early in the game schedule, when Twins coaches will go out of their way to make sure top players get a live-action look for their benefit. You can see some of these guys in later games, too, but it will be more hit-and-miss, and usually limited to late innings. Early in the schedule you might see them starting alongside Twins regulars.

 

Quit Thinking About It and Do It

 

For a baseball fan, it’s almost hard to believe a place like this exists. The bad news is that it probably won’t, not in exactly the same manner, even next year. The consensus opinion is that every year, all the amenities get a little nicer, but the access gets a little tighter.

 

If that idea bothers you, I promise you - you won’t care. Find a way to get here. You’ll hear the pop of a mitt and feel the sun on your shoulders and you’ll wonder, like I did, why it took you so long.

 

Download attachment: Gibson and Kid.png

 

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[IndianaTwin]

Great article. Deserves a Like just for the picture of the kid and Gibson.

[Squirrel]

ST has been a ‘must do’ in my calendar for a long time, and I tell any baseball fan, it’s a ‘must do’ experience at least once in a lifetime, more if you can manage it. My first ST was in 1991. After a handful, I missed going ‘98-00. Since 2001, I haven’t missed. I have never been for longer than a week or two ... I still have a full time job ... but it’s always a highlight for this baseball fan.

[Halsey Hall]

I've been here every year since 1991 and probably couldn't make it through an entire winter up north.  Made some great friends that come every year also.  It's great.  

[MMMordabito]

Nice guide! Just needs a best places to drink beer section

[twinsfaninsaudi]

Why two photos of Gibson? Aren’t we looking forward to not having to see Kyle Gibson this year? And here have two photos of Gibson!

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Nice shot of the facility at daybreak

[Otwins]

I have been going down each year the last seven years. It is a great break from the winter. Thanks for the write up.  Where is the minor league office? It would be nice to get the scheduled activities each day.  I have just been asking people. Usually minor league players as they walk by.

[theBOMisthebomb]

The last few years I have read these types of 'go to spring training' writeups and walk away feeling worse. It's a no duh no brainer that it's nice to be somewhere warm in February instead of Minnesota. While I appreciate the details on the ins and outs of the actual spring training activities, I can do without the preaching and humble bragging about how everyone needs to get there. Not everyone has the resources, time, or calendar flexibility to make it to Florida for spring training. Call me jealous or a hater if you want, I don't care. This post comes across as too much rubbing the noses of the poor Minnesotans in feces that can't make it to spring training. I will see you at Target Field on Opening Day, I guess.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Point of clarification: The big league field has concessions on game days, but the back fields do not.

 

And if you can swing a long weekend to Florida, don’t wait. It’s a great experience!

[terrydactyls]

I went to a ticket website and they had tickets starting at $28 and going as high as $108 for games at Hammond Field. Tell me that ain't true?????

[Squirrel]

I went to a ticket website and they had tickets starting at $28 and going as high as $108 for games at Hammond Field. Tell me that ain't true?????

I’m not sure about the $108, but I saw tix $9 to $31