ST. PAUL, MN (January 21, 2025) - Stability at the managerial position is something the St. Paul Saints have had since their inaugural season as an organization in 1993. They had just five managers in 28 seasons as an Independent League team. When they became the Minnesota Twins Triple-A affiliate in 2021, Toby Gardenhire was given the reigns as the first manager in the affiliated ball era. The Minnesota Twins announced on Tuesday that Gardenhire will continue at the helm of their Triple-A franchise. He will once again be joined by Hitting Coach Shawn Schlechter (second season), the lone returning coach from the 2024 staff. The new faces will include Hitting & Development Coach Drew Marcuzzo, along with a couple of pitching coaches promoted from within the system: Carlos Hernandez, from Double-A Wichita, and Jonas Lovin, from High-A Cedar Rapids. Rounding out the staff are five returning members and one other promotion from the Twins system: Strength & Conditioning Coach Stephen Hopkins returns for his second season, joined by Athletic Trainers Ben Myers, his fourth season with the Saints, and Katie Lortie, promoted from Wichita, AAA Clubhouse Manager/Assistant, Baseball Operations Matt Tramp, fifth season, and Coordinators, Baseball Technology Lincoln Ficek and Alek Hughes, both returning for their fourth seasons.

The 42-year-old Gardenhire led his team to the fourth best record in the International League in the first half of the season in 2024 and finished 70-79 on the year despite dealing with roster uncertainty on a weekly basis. Overall, Gardenhire is 295-281 in his four seasons as manager with the Saints and 446-402 in six seasons as a manager. Gardenhire earned his 200th victory as manager of the Saints on July 30, 2023. In 2023, the Saints tied a modern-day Minor League record (stats going back to 2005) with 14 grand slams. No Major League team has hit more than 14 grand slams in the Modern Era (since 1901). The Saints also went 47-27 at home, a .635 win percentage, the fifth best in all of Minor League Baseball.

Gardenhire, who was scheduled to be the manager in Rochester in 2020 before the pandemic eliminated the season, spent two seasons as a manager in the Twins system in 2018 and 2019. He guided the Single-A Cedar Rapids Kernels to a playoff berth in 2018 after winning the second half Western Division title. Overall, the Kernels went 77-62, fourth best record in the 16-team league. The Kernels swept their quarterfinal series, 2-0, over the Beloit Snappers (Oakland Athletics) before losing 2-0 to the Peoria Chiefs (St. Louis Cardinals) in the semifinals.

The following year, Gardenhire was promoted to High-A Fort Myers where he was named the Florida State League Manager of the Year and once again earned a playoff berth. The Miracle won the first half title and finished 74-59, third best record in the 12-team Florida State League. The league, however, cancelled their playoffs due to Hurricane Dorian.

This is Gardenhire’s 10th season as a coach or manager in the Twins organization. He assisted the GCL Twins in 2016, began the 2017 season as the third base coach for the Red Wings before finishing the year as the hitting coach for the GCL Twins.

Gardenhire began his coaching career at the University of Wisconsin-Stout where he amassed an 81-117 record in five seasons (2012-16) and helped guide the Blue Devils to a 2014 WIAC tournament berth, their first in seven years.

Gardenhire has spent his entire professional career with the Twins organization. In addition to nine seasons as a coach or manager, he played seven seasons in their Minor League system. He was originally drafted by the Twins in the 38th round in 2002 out of the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, but did not sign. In 2005, he was selected in the 41st round by the Twins out of the University of Illinois. Gardenhire played at every level from the Rookie Appalachian League up through Triple-A. In 533 games he slashed .232/.292/.274 with 156 runs scored, 44 doubles, three triples, and six home runs.

The Burnsville, MN native, Schlechter, grew up a Twins fan and enters his sixth season in the organization, second with the Saints. Last season he helped spark an offense into the top half of the International League in several offensive categories including second in triples (31), third in walks (673), eighth in on base percentage (.348), and eighth in OPS (.722).

Schlechter was the Hitting Coach for Double-A Wichita in 2023, High-A Cedar Rapids in 2022, FCL Twins in 2021, and was scheduled to have the same role in 2020 before the cancellation of the season.

Schlechter spent eight years at North Iowa Community College, first as a player and then as a coach. During his tenure working with NIACC hitters (2013-19), four of his players were picked in the First-Year Player Draft. During the 2020 baseball pause, he joined members of the Twins’ player development staff and Play Ball! Minnesota in a series of online Virtual Academy webinars, aimed at helping young athletes with proper fundamentals and form. The webinars were targeted at different age groups and covered a wide range of topics.

The 34-year-old Marcuzzo begins his first season in professional baseball after spending the previous 12 years in the college ranks. In 2024, Marcuzzo was an Assistant Coach with the Akron Zips.

Marcuzzo spent four seasons on the University of Nebraska baseball staff as a volunteer assistant coach and camp coordinator from 2020-23. Marcuzzo coached hitters and infielders, while also serving as the Huskers’ first-base coach. During his coaching career, Marcuzzo was instrumental in improving defenses and being part of three teams that set school records for fielding percentage.

Prior to his coaching career, Marcuzzo played the first two years of his collegiate baseball career at Coffeyville (KS) CC, where he held five offensive records, including the career and single-season home run records, before finishing out his playing career at Western Illinois University.

Marcuzzo’s coaching career also includes stops at Coffeyville (2013-14, 2019), Butler (KS) Community College (2015-16), and Central Oklahoma University (2017-18).

Many of the same pitchers that played at Wichita in 2024 under the tutelage of Hernandez will don Saints uniforms this season. The 44-year-old Venezuelan helped the Wind Surge staff to a 4.11 ERA, fifth in the Texas League. They allowed the second fewest home runs (99), one of just eight Double-A teams to allow less than 100 home runs, and third fewest walks (500).

Hernandez begins his eighth year in the Twins organization and first at the Triple-A level, after working with Wichita in 2024, High-A Cedar Rapids in 2023 and spending the 2020-22 with Low-A Fort Myers. In 2023, Cedar Rapids’ 3.90 team ERA ranked 12th among all full-season minor league teams and in 2021, Mighty Mussels pitchers ranked fourth in Low-A with a 3.96 ERA and tied for sixth with 1,228 strikeouts

Hernandez spent two years with rookie-level clubs, making his professional coaching debut as the DSL Twins pitching coach in 2018 before serving in the same role for the GCL Twins in 2019.

He was originally signed by Houston as an amateur free agent in 1997 and made 35 appearances (33 starts) for the Astros between 2001-04 and pitched in the Tampa Bay system from 2008-10.

The 29-year-old Lovin enters his third season in the Twins organization, the first two with the Cedar Rapids Kernels. In 2024 he helped the Kernels to a 67-63 record while the pitching staff finished with a solid 4.14 ERA. His staff walked the second fewest in High-A and fewest in the Midwest League (400) and struck out just under nine batters per game. The Kernels’ 3.90 team ERA in 2023 was 12th lowest among all full season minor league teams

Prior to joining the Twins, Lovin was the pitching coach at Iowa Central Community College where the pitching staff broke the school strikeout record in the 2021-22 season. He spent two seasons on the coaching staff at Concordia (NE) University; during his tenure, the team won the 2021 GPAC regular season and postseason titles, set a single-season record with 42 wins, broke the school single-season record in strikeouts and made the first NAIA World Series appearance in program history.

Prior to becoming a coach, Lovin pitched collegiately at Division II Augustana University (SD), where he won a national championship in 2018. He also pitched one season in Division I for the University of Nebraska Omaha in 2019, where he earned his master’s degree in organizational science and leadership.

The 34-year-old Myers begins his seventh season in the Twins organization and fourth with the Saints. He began his time in 2018 as the Athletic Trainer at Low-A Cedar Rapids. From there he moved to High-A Fort Myers in 2019. His responsibilities shifted in 2020 due to the pandemic. He was sent to Target Field handling Covid cases and his experience doing that put him in the role of Infectious Control Prevention Coordinator in 2021 through the All-Star break. Following that, he became a roving Athletic Trainer, working with all the Twins affiliates.

Myers began his college career at the University of Kentucky for two semesters. He then transferred to Eastern Kentucky University from 2009-13 and got his degree in Athletic Training, becoming certified in 2013. Myers did an internship with the GCL Astros in 2012. He earned his master’s at the University of South Carolina in Athletic Training and worked with the University of South Carolina Softball team from 2013-14. After working at a local high school in 2015, Myers was hired by the Astros and worked for their GCL team from 2015-16 and with the Rookie level Greenville Astros in 2017.

The 28-year-old Lortie begins her fourth season in the Twins organization, spending the 2023-24 seasons with the Wind Surge after beginning with the FCL Twins in 2022. Lortie got her start in professional baseball as an Athletic Trainer with the Houston Astros organization in 2021 with the FCL/Rehab. Prior to baseball, Lortie worked for The System 8 Training Facility in Florida as a Complete Performance Specialist.

Lortie majored in exercise physiology at Cal State University, Chico, while playing collegiate soccer, then transferred to San Diego State University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training in 2018. She received her Master of Science in Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology in 2020 at Barry University. Lortie did an internship as an athletic trainer with the Baltimore Orioles in 2017.

Hopkins begins his second season with the Twins organization and second with the Saints. He spent nearly a year-and-a-half at K27 Performance, a sports gym in Frisco Texas, as Director of Training and an Elite Performance Trainer since September 2022. He’s worked at RedLine Athletics as a Director of Performance (2021-22), owned his own business helping train athletes (2020-22), a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Elite Performance Training (2019-21), Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Greenhill School (2017-19), and a Sports Performance Coach at Michael Johnson Performance (2017).

In 2017, Hopkins received his Strength and Conditioning graduate certificate from Georgia Southern University in May, 2017 and became a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist from the National Strength and Conditioning Association in August, 2017.

Hopkins is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he played three seasons at running back/fullback for the Wolverines. He was a part of the 2012 Sugar Bowl winning team, a 23-20 victory over Virginia Tech. Hopkins was a three-star recruit coming out of Marcus (TX) HS where he rushed for 5,010 yards and 61 touchdowns and rated as the 50th best running back in the nation.

The 35-year-old Tramp begins his fifth season as the Saints Clubhouse Manager. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota native began his clubhouse duties with the American Association’s Sioux Falls Canaries, the same league the Saints were in prior to becoming the Twins Triple-A affiliate, from 2009-10, 12-13. He spent one season with the New York-Penn League’s Auburn Doubledays, the Low-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, in 2011. Following his time with the Canaries in 2013, Tramp was the Visiting Clubhouse Manager for the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros in 2014. He went on to work as the Clubhouse Manager for the Biloxi Shuckers, the Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, in 2015. He joined the Twins organization in 2018 and was the Fort Myers Miracle Clubhouse Manager for two seasons. Tramp and his wife Amanda spent the winter living in Minnesota.

The 28-year-old Ficek returns for his fourth season with the Saints and fifth with the Twins organization. He was a Minor League Video Intern in 2021 before being hired full-time. Ficek began in baseball with the Tampa Bay Rays as a Minor League intern in 2020. He graduated from Ohio State University in 2018 where he was a Student Assistant responsible for filming, editing, and processing all practices and games for coaches’ review. Ficek was a Production Intern at ESPN following graduation in 2018 and worked as a Baseball Operations Intern at Inside Edge, Inc. in Bloomington, Minnesota in 2019.

Hughes, 34, begins his fourth season with the Saints and third in a full-time role. In 2022 he was an intern in the Twins organization in the baseball technology department, primarily with the Saints. Hughes was a US Military Academy at West Point graduate in 2014 and was a Field Artillery Officer in the US Army from 2014-22. He received his Master of Business Administration from Webster University in 2021. His first job in the sports world was with the Philadelphia Eagles, in 2022, working on data insights and research.

The Saints begin the 2025 season at CHS Field on Friday, March 28 against the Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh Pirates) at 6:37 p.m. Season and group tickets are on sale. For more information, contact the Saints office Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. or visit saintsbaseball.com.