The St. Cloud Rox are a baseball team that play in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. Their home games are played at the Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Beginnings in Dubuque The franchise was one of the five founding members of the league in 1994 and was located in Dubuque, Iowa. The team was known as the Dubuque Mud Puppies. They played in Dubuque from 1994 to 1996, struggling financially despite strong backing from the business community.
Three seasons in Dubuque yielded three future MLB players: Jeff Weaver, Shawn Sedlacek, and Robb Quinlan. Weaver became the first Northwoods League alum to appear in the majors when he debuted with the Detroit Tigers in 1999.
Return of baseball to St. Cloud St. Cloud, Minnesota has hosted baseball for decades at a variety of play levels. Baseball returned to the city in 1997 in the Northwoods League with the relocation of the Mud Puppies. With the move came a new name for the team, the St. Cloud River Bats. The River Bats were a premier team in the Northwoods League, winning 3 league championships, one North Division overall championship, and 3 First Half North Division pennants.
Return of the Rox In February 2012, the Northwoods League sold the team rights to a local interest group while reserving the rights to the name and logo. The St. Cloud franchise played the 2012 season as the St. Cloud Rox, hearkening back to the minor league team that played in the city from 1946 to 1971.
Radio broadcasts Rox games can be heard on 1390 Granite City Sports. Aspiring Broadcasters from colleges across the United States have served as the voice of Rox Baseball over the years.
St. Cloud players in MLB
The following is a list of former Rox or River Bats who have played in Major League Baseball.
Name Year(s) with St. Cloud MLB accolades Drew Avans 2017 Austin Barnes 2010 World Series champion (2x) Chris Başak 1998/1999 Buddy Baumann 2007 Michael Busch 2017 Mark Canha 2008 Alex Carrillo 2019 Riley Cornelio 2021 Will Craig 2014 Ben DeLuzio 2016 Chris Demaria 2000/2001 Thomas Diamond 2002/2003 Cam Eden 2017 Steve Edlefsen 2004 Jay Flaa 2013 TJ Friedl 2016 Mitch Garver 2010/2011 World Series Champion, Silver Slugger John Gaub 2004 Lucas Gilbreath 2015 Tom Gorzelanny 2001 Justin Huisman 1998/1999 Chris Jakubauskas 1999 Jason Jaramillo 2002 Sean Kazmar 2003 Otto Kemp 2021 Roger Kieschnick 2006 Brice Matthews 2021/2022 Alex McRae 2013 Ben Meyer 2012 Casey McGehee 2001 NL Rookie of the Month (Sep. 2009) Andrew Pinckney 2021 Zach Pop 2015 Robb Quinlan 1998 AL Rookie of the Month (Jul. 2004) Tony Renda 2009 Konrad Schmidt 2003/2005 Daniel Schneemann 2017 Bob Seymour 2018 Jake Smith 2011 Josh Smith 2010 Jared Solomon 2017 Dan Straily 2009 Josh Taylor 2014 Will Warren 2018 Robbie Weinhardt 2007 Jason Wheeler 2010 Jack Winkler 2020/2021
References
External links St. Cloud Rox – official site Northwoods League – official site