Wichita faces move to Class AA Texas League

With the final details of the reorganized Minor League Baseball imminent, the news that the Wichita Wind Surge is shifting to the Class AA Texas League is leaving some in that Kansas community disappointed.

It’s an open secret, albeit not yet announced, that the Wind Surge will end up in the Class AA Texas League as a Minnesota Twins farm team. We reported the likelihood of this happening several months ago, despite some last-minute maneuvering that would have placed the Twins in the Eastern League, but for MLB the shift was a no-brainer. Needing to open three spots at Triple-A made the move of the Wind Surge to the Double-A Texas League made sense in the MILB reorg. (Also moving to lower classifications: the San Antonio Missions and the Fresno Grizzlies.) MLB folks would argue that Wichita is a better fit in the Texas League anyway; the move won’t impact attendance and lower travel costs for the Wind Surge owners. 

“What I can tell you is that we are like the other 160+ MiLB teams in that we are all waiting to hear from MLB on what the future landscape will be,” [general manager Jared] Forma wrote in an email. “Currently we are still a member of the AAA Pacific Coast League.”

The Wind Surge will have the dubious distinction of never having played a game at the Triple-A level despite the move of the New Orleans Baby Cakes (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) to Wichita at the end of the 2019 MiLB season. Wichita was all set to debut the $75-million Riverfront Stadium in April 2020 only to see the season eventually shut down because of COVID-19 concerns.