Neal: Revival of Fort Myers Beach is a Florida happening, but Minnesota determination is in play

FORT MYERS BEACH, FLA. - More spring breakers, spring training worshipers and foreign visitors are walking the streets of Fort Myers Beach this year. They shop and dine while being entertained by street musicians and play in the sand adjoining the Gulf Coast.

And those wearing Twins gear are among them.

“As you can see, we are well on our way to recovery!” Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers wrote in an email.

He is correct. Twins fans who regularly visit spring training and often roll over to this beach town for entertainment and relaxation have seen or will see how locals have moved on since Hurricane Ian delivered catastrophic destruction on Sept. 28, 2022. Allers, who attended Spring Lake Park High School, has been part of the enormous effort to move forward.

There’s still much to achieve. I’m writing this while sitting outside the Cubano Cafe, which is a food truck in a lot just off Estero Boulevard, the main drag through the beach. You’ll see a few trucks, converted trailers or mobile units selling food along the road. There’s a crane across the street, loading rubble onto the back of a semi to be hauled away. Once a staple of relief and recovery, the number of cranes has diminished.

New buildings have risen from the devastation. The Margaritaville Resort, which was in the works before Ian hit, is bustling with business and currently is part of the main hub of activity you’ll notice as you descend from the Matanzas Pass Bridge into the beach town. Restaurants like the Yucatan Beach Stand and S.O.B. (Smokin Oyster Brewery) were packed last week. The Whale, a longtime bar and restaurant — and Minnesota Star Tribune-approved — is under construction and set to open in the fall. Like many new projects, it has to meet a flood-elevation requirement.

I ate breakfast Wednesday at the Island’s Pancake House, also off Estero. The owners, Brian and Stacy Martins, purchased the restaurant three months before Ian hit. The couple, who grew up in the St. Cloud area and lived for a time in New Prague, were determined to reopen and did so during the second half of last year.

Some residents lost everything but were just as determined to rebuild. Insurance issues and other setbacks were too much for some, and the few remaining vacant buildings are reminders of Ian’s wrath. The locals who remain have overcome challenges, and the beach is bouncing back. Food and lodging are pricier, but foot traffic has returned.

So if you’re headed to Fort Myers Beach before spring training ends this year, or in future years, some familiar sights await you. Among the signs of progress.

Fill the toolbox

Brock Stewart throws five different pitches. Zebby Matthews does as well. If you count the occasional knuckle curve that former Twin Sonny Gray throws, he has seven pitches in his toolbox.

Griffin Jax and Cole Sands, also relievers like Stewart, threw five different pitches last season. We’re seeing pitchers, regardless of role, attempting to command as many pitches as they can to stay one step ahead of hitters. It seems more prevalent now than ever.

“In order to work through lineups, because there is so much information, if you fall into a trend or have a pattern, we know that as hitters,” Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “So the more pitches you have, the more you can lower your usage percentage of said pitch.”

The array of pitches has made watching spring training games more interesting.

Hall of Famer Joe Mauer, in camp as a special instructor, has been tutoring the first basemen since his arrival last week. Ty France, who has vowed to outplay his 2024 metrics, has been working hard on picking balls out of the dirt. Coaches spend part of fielding practice using fungo bats to hit one-hop smashes at France so he can get that type of practice in.

“He looks pretty good over there,” Mauer said.

I’m not sure how many of those balls were hit by Mauer. When he reported to camp, Mauer found a fungo bat in his clubhouse stall. It might as well have been a shillelagh. It was unrecognizable to him. Many former players-turned-special-instructors end up using fungo bats as a third leg and just lean on them.

• My hitter to click in 2025 is Jose Miranda. He’s 26, has over 1,000 plate appearances in his career and showed his potential during a torrid June and July last season. He’s added strength and will be a reliable middle-of-the-order hitter.