June 18, 2025
Part of the attraction and appeal of the Omaha SlumpBuster youth baseball tournament (powered by Triple Crown Sports) is the wide variety of club programs that dedicate time and resources to make the trip. It’s a coast-to-coast mix that essentially guarantees teams will play opponents they’d never see otherwise and probably won’t see again.
The Minnesota Renegade, located just outside Minneapolis, brought three 13u teams to Session 1 – here’s a closer look at what got the program off the ground and how it plans to tackle the future. We spoke with board president John Drevlow.
History of MN Renegade
MN Renegade was dreamt up during the dark days of Covid. Kids were home schooling, sports were shut down and opportunities to play were limited. A group of parents came together to make sure kids didn't miss out on any more of their childhood than they already had. We formed with the intention to provide an outstanding destination tournament for a group of 12u players/friends. Having successfully fundraised and coordinated a trip from to Myrtle Beach, SC, we decided to further define our mission and continue our operations.
Since 2021, we've grown through word of mouth from 12 players to training hundreds of players because we always put our players first. Last year we took two teams to Cooperstown to play in a tournament and visit the Hall of Fame to further their love of the game. Our mission is to provide high level training and access to quality trainers for all players at an affordable price, so that our players can mature through the game of baseball. We pride ourselves on providing options to develop for players of all levels.
We've structured our program so that if a player isn't ready for our higher level teams, they still have access to the same trainers with options to play in our organization. They are training and practicing next to our top players, with our top trainers, and learning about what it takes to compete. We aim to be competitive at the highest level but also remain approachable to all players and families. Our success isn't defined by record but by the growth and maturity of our players because baseball, and life, can be tough but developing the mental fortitude to be successful helps our players be the best version of themselves they can be.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide outstanding baseball training and development to young athletes to help them grow intellectually and emotionally into strong community leaders.
We are not concerned with profit or making decisions based on financials. We all have normal day jobs that pay our bills. Our guiding principle is “Do what's right for the players, always." If that means renting out additional space, hiring more trainers or investing in pitching machines and blast sensors, that's what we do to help the players.
Training Programs
All of our programs welcome players from various levels, even from outside of our program, to participate in training with us. We have several players training with us that play for other teams and we embrace that as part of the competitive respect we try to instill in our players. When you know a player personally, they are a friend on the field even when you're competing against them. All these boys will be playing with or against each other for several years. We want them to appreciate each other.
We invest in our players by hiring high level coaches and trainers. Most of our trainers have played or trained at the collegiate level. One of our head coaches has trained several players who have participated in the College World Series over the years and gone on to play Major League Baseball. We aim to pass down everything we learn from the game, the recruiting process, and the grind it takes to compete so that our players are best prepared for the years to come.
Look for Part 2 of the Minnesota Renegade story soon!
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