<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1607611770893.png" alt="Nadya Faulx / KMUW/File photo " />
 <figcaption>Nadya Faulx / KMUW/File photo </figcaption>
 </figure>By TOM SHINE <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/marlins-no-more-wichitas-baseball-team-be-minnesota-twins-double-affiliate">Kansas News Service</a>Wichita’s minor league baseball team is set to become part of the Minnesota Twins’ organization.The Wind Surge said Wednesday it has been invited to be Minnesota’s Double-A affiliate.The
 move comes as part of a huge shakeup of the minor leagues by Major 
League Baseball, which now oversees all aspects of professional 
baseball. The changes include the reduction of minor league teams from 
160 to 120.As part of the shakeup, most major league teams took 
the opportunity to reduce their geographic footprint. The Twins swapped 
minor league teams in upstate New York and Florida for teams in St. 
Paul, Minnesota, and Wichita."This is a very positive and great 
day for us," said Jared Forma, the Wind Surge’s senior vice president 
and general manager. "We're very excited because the Twins are truly a 
first-class organization."He said there are several more steps 
to take before the agreement with the Twins becomes final. That includes
 signing a Player Development license with the Twins, which is a formal 
contract between the two organizations.Forma said he understands
 that the agreement will be for 10 years, which will lend stability to 
Wichita. And the Twins, according to MLB.com, have one of the top minor 
league systems in baseball in terms of talent."They have an 
unbelievable minor league system," Forma said. "They like that homegrown
 player. So draft them and develop 'em .. versus a ton of free agent 
signings."Anyone I have talked to that knows someone from the 
Twins, there's not a person who has anything negative to say about the 
Twins."The likely move also means the Wind Surge will drop from 
Triple-A – the highest level of the minor leagues – to Double-A. Forma, 
who has spent more than 20 years in baseball, said the difference is 
minimal"If you put a Triple-A team on one side of a diamond and a
 Double-A team on the other, and you asked me to tell you the 
difference, I'm not sure I'd be able to," Forma said."Certainly,
 Triple-A offers a great product. I believe we're actually going to see 
the very top prospects in the Twins' organization and our opponents' for
 a longer period of time at Double-A than you would at Triple-A."The
 Wichita Pilots and Wranglers, who played from 1987 through 2007 at 
Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, were a Double-A franchise. The Wichita Aeros 
were a Triple-A franchise from 1970 until 1984.What league the 
Wind Surge will play in also is uncertain, although Forma said it likely
 will include teams that played in the Texas League. One of those teams 
is the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, which is the Kansas City Royals’ 
Double-A affiliate.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1607611831879.png" alt=" The new Riverfront Stadium in Delano. Credit Stephan Bisaha / KMUW/File photo" />
 <figcaption> The new Riverfront Stadium in Delano. Credit Stephan Bisaha / KMUW/File photo</figcaption>
 </figure>The Wind Surge arrived in Wichita from New Orleans in 2019 as the 
Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. The city built the franchise a 
$75 million stadium on the west bank of the Arkansas River. It also sold
 land along the riverfront to team owners for $1 an acre for future 
development.But the team never played in Riverfront Stadium 
after the 2020 season was canceled by the pandemic. In July, owner and 
managing partner Lou Schwechheimer died from complications from 
COVID-19.He was instrumental in moving the team to Wichita. When
 he arrived, he was an active presence in the community, overseeing 
construction of the new stadium."When I first met Lou, he talked
 about this place with such a passion that I couldn’t get away from 
him," Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple said Wednesday during a news 
conference at Riverfront Stadium to discuss the invitation from the 
Twins. "We had a one-hour meeting that lasted over three hours. "Lou 
talked about baseball here in Wichita not as a sport, not as an economic
 driver but as a place that brings communities together."City 
officials hope the team and stadium will boost economic development and 
tourism in Wichita. Forma said he is just looking forward to playing 
baseball."We're just so excited because I do really believe this
 is step one of being able to look to 2021 and get back to some 
normalcy, which I think everyone is looking forward to," he said."But
 at the end of the day, we're going to have Wichita across our chests on
 our jerseys, and this great community is going to see some phenomenal 
baseball."

Wichita's baseball team to be Minnesota Twins' Double-A affiliate