The new parent club of the Chattanooga Lookouts is low on recent success but high on promise.
In each of the past four seasons, the Minnesota Twins have lost a minimum of 92 games. Losing records, however, lead to higher draft picks, and the Twins enter the 2015 season with one of the top five farm systems among the 30 big-league teams.
“I give the credit to our scouting department these last few years, because we’ve had some really productive drafts,” Minnesota player development director Brad Steil said. “We feel very lucky to have players like Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano in our system, but we know we’ve got to get better. We haven’t won enough games in the big leagues these last few years, and we’re trying to turn that around with the development of our young players.
“I think the rankings may be indicative of where we’re headed.”
The Lookouts begin their first season as Class AA affiliates of the Twins this week. They will practice together at AT&T Field for the first time Tuesday afternoon before the annual exhibition with Chattanooga State at 6:15 that evening.