Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch

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With pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training in about 5 weeks, it is time for the annual Twins' off-season top prospect list. The past 4 seasons, this list was a top 40 list, but I decided it to grow it to a top 60 list this off-season for various reasons, including some uncertainty towards the end of the rankings, plus the fact that I tend to include several players who have not yet played stateside.

Unlike other prospect lists that include all players who qualify as rookies, mine does not include players who have played in the majors. I find it awkward to see players like J.T. Chargois who appeared in 25 games in the majors and was a major league player for the best part of 2 months, listed as a "prospect", and in some places with ETA 2017. Players like Adalbelto Mejia who appeared for one game only in the majors, take a mulligan and still treated as prospects in my list.

I have waited as much as I could to include potential players received in trades, but I am afraid that if I wait any longer, I will run out of time, so additional incoming prospects will be ranked retroactively.

As a baseline, here is my 2016 Twins' off-season list (the full link and analysis is here; it includes 2015 ranking in parenthesis and ETA)

1. Jose Berrios RHSP (5), 2016

2. Tyler Jay (--) LHSP, 2017

3. Nick Burdi (6) RHRP, 2016

4. Stephen Gonsalves (13) LHSP, 2018

5. Lewin Diaz (9) 1B/DH, 2019

6. JT Chargois (--) RHRP, 2016

7. Wander Javier (--) SS, 2020+

8. Jermaine Palacios (36) SS/3B, 2020

9. Nick Gordon (12) SS, 2019

10. Mitch Garver (17) C, 2017

11. Levi Michael (22), 2B, 2016

12. Mason Melotakis (--), LHRP, 2016

13. Kohl Stewart RHSP (7), 2017

14. Travis Harrison (14), OF/1B, 2017

15. Amaurys Minier (6) OF/1B, 2019

16. Jake Reed (16) RHRP, 2017

17. Lewis Thorpe (11) LHSP, 2019

18. Daniel Palka (--) OF, 2017

19. Adam Walker (21), OF, 2016

20. Felix Jorge (29), RHSP, 2018

21. Rainis Silva (24), C, 2018

22. Jean Carlos Arias (--), CF, 2020

23. Engelb Vielma SS (20), 2017

24. Luis Arraez IF (40), 2019

25. Ryan Eades RHSP (30), 2017

26. Lachlan Wells (--), LHSP, 2020

27. Huascar Ynoa (--), RHSP, 2020

28. Brusdar Graterol (--), RHSP, 2020+

29. Brandon Peterson (27), RHRP, 2017

30. Taylor Rogers (--), LHR/SP, 2016

31. LaMonte Wade (--), CF, 2018

32. Kolton Kendrick (--), 1B/DH, 2020+

33. Chris Paul (--) IF/OF, 2018

34. Fernardo Romero (37), RHSP, 2019

35. Yorman Landa (--), RHRP, 2018

36. Kuo Hua Lo (--), RHRP, 2018

37. Niko Goodrum (--), CF/IF, 2017

38. Travis Blankenhorn (--), 3B/1B, 2020

39. Trey Cabbage (--), IF/OF, 2020+

40. Emmanuel Morel (--) IF, 2020+

Berrios (1), Chargois (6), and Rogers (30) have graduated, Walker (19), Landa (35) and Lo (36) are no longer with the organization.

The next segment will start the top 60 prospects countdown and will be the 56-60 prospects.