2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook Available NOW!

[Seth Stohs]

The 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook will be now available.

 

By clicking here, you can order the paperback version of the PDF/E-Book version at Lulu.com.

 

In addition, the promo code ONEFIVE will get you 15% off of all print books you order on Lulu.com (promo code is good through Thursday). In this link, you'll see previous Twins Prospect Handbooks are available.With the completion and availability of the 2020 Twins Prospect Handbook, I have now written and self-published a dozen Twins Prospect Handbooks. I think back to the first one, which I think I wrote up and published within about two or three weeks, and laugh. Since then, I truly believe that the handbooks have continued to get better and much more detailed, and that’s thanks to a lot of people.

 

As much as I know that I enjoy researching and learning about the players, it is a ton of work. But I enjoy having the conversations with a variety of people inside and outside of the organization. I enjoy watching video. I enjoy reading other opinions. I enjoy going to Ft. Myers each spring and spending time watching minor league practice and games. I also enjoy getting down to Cedar Rapids for some games.

 

However, ultimately, I also truly believe in that paragraph that I wrote in that 2008 prospect handbook and have included in every single Twins Prospect Handbook since then, including this year’s.

 

Minor league baseball players are doing all the same work that the big leaguers do. They are just doing it with far less fanfare, smaller per diems, less luxurious travel and hotel arrangements, and noticeably lighter wallets due to pay checks with far fewer zeroes. These players deserve to be recognized too.

It’s about the players. They deserve the recognition. They work hard. Sometimes that means a big league career, and sometimes it means peaking in A-ball.

 

Tom Froemming wrote an article for this year’s Prospect Handbook about why it’s important to get to know more than just a team’s Top or Top 20, or even Top 40, prospects. A quick glimpse back at the Twins 2019 season reminds us that Luis Arraez asn’t a Top 10 Twins prospect just 12 months ago. Cody Stashak was recognized for his transition to the bullpen in 2018, he he didn’t rank as a Top 50 prospect. Randy Dobnak wasn’t a Top 50 prospect. Geez, how many Twins Top 100 prospect rankings would he have made one year ago.

 

Which prospects will surprise and advance in 2020? Which top prospects will?

 

The Twins system is currently really strong. There are four to six Twins prospects that are Top 100 guys nationally. There are a few others that are probably close to that level. And there is a ton of depth of players that have the ability to, if opportunity arises, be big league players. That makes the writing and researching and all the time well worth it!

 

So, here is a quick look at what you will find if you order a copy of the 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook (which will again be available in paperback and as a PDF).

 

THE COVER

 

Finn Pearson, who has volunteered to do a lot of really good graphic work for Twins Daily the last couple of years, did a very nice job on the cover again this year. (He did last year’s too.) We talked about it and decided that baby blue was the way to go after the Twins announced they were bringing back those ‘80s uniforms in 2020. And, well, Pensacola sure had a lot of high-quality pitching prospects in 2019, didn’t they? Here are three of them; Jhoan Duran, Jordan Balazovic and Brusdar Graterol.

 

 

THE AUTHORS

 

Seth Stohs - As mentioned above, this is my 12th annual Twins Prospect Handbook. Hard to believe. I wrote the Twins Daily Minor League Award winner articles, and a few other articles.

 

Tom Froemming - This is Tom’s third Prospect Handbook. He wrote an article about how Twins fans need to look beyond the top 20 Twins prospects. We saw in 2019 that several players who did not come into the season as top prospects or even potential call-ups not only got called up, but contributed to the AL Central championship run.

 

 

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

 

RT Rybak - The former mayor of Minneapolis contributed a great poem for the Twins Daily Offseason Handbook, and he was kind enough to also contribute a fantastic poem to the 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook too. It’s titled, “All who Wander Javier,” and I know you’ll really enjoy it. .

 

Steve Buhr - Steve wrote a fantastic article discussing the controversy going on between MLB and Minor League Baseball. He tries to see both sides of the story, and tries to answer what it might all mean.

 

Ted Schwerzler - As he has done in recent years, Ted contributed an article in which he predicts which Twins prospects will make their debuts with the Twins in 2020 and when.

 

Nash Walker - He has been contributing articles at Twins Daily recently, and he wrote an article on Jhoan Duran for the handbook.

 

 

THE PROFILES

 

We like to call the prospect profiles the meat and potatoes of the Prospect Handbook. There are about 170 profiles of Twins minor leaguers in the book.

 

For those that have purchased Prospect Handbooks in the past, you have an idea of what the profiles look like and the information in each. For those of you who have not purchased previous Prospect Handbooks, well, you can buy previous Prospect Handbooks here. Ha! However, we wanted to include a profile here just to give you an idea of what you are getting.

 

Here is a quick snip of a player profile. The header information includes height, weight, how they were acquired and their 2019 statistics. The 2019 Recaps were written by Tom Froemming and they, well, recap the player’s 2019 season. I (Seth) wrote up the Background and the Scouting Report sections. The Background covers their amateur days and previous seasons. The Scouting Report provides, well, a scouting report on the player. We also included a Forecast for ‘20 in which we try to give a good idea of where each player could spend the 2020 season.

 

We have pictures of a lot of the players in the bios. I wish we had all, but we definitely want to thank all the photographers that were willing to let us use their photos. We used a lot of my photos, but I also want to thank Steve Buhr for his great photos from Cedar Rapids, Ft. Myers and the GCL Twins. The Elizabethton Twins photos came from Nicholas Badders or Kassi Butcher.

 

 

So there you have it. The 2020 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook is coming very soon. Keep checking back to Twins Daily and we will let you know when it is available and how you can order it.

 

It’s something that Tom and I are really proud of. It just keeps getting bigger and better, and we hope that you will enjoy it too!

 

Click here to view the article

[Dman]

I for one am very happy it is on its way.  I plan to absorb all the material as soon as possible.

[Seth Stohs]

 

 

[gil4]

Gotta keep the collection up to date. It gets better every year (and year one was pretty darned good.)

 

[John Bonnes]

It's indispensable. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Gotta keep the collection up to date. It gets better every year (and year one was pretty darned good.)

 

Thank you so much!! It's a lot of work, but I'm really proud of this year's book... and previous books too... 

[goulik]

Can't wait for it to arrive. I have been considering ordering the few early books that I did not get but I have most in my collection. Money well spent each year.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Can't wait for it to arrive. I have been considering ordering the few early books that I did not get but I have most in my collection. Money well spent each year.

 

Thank you so much!

[gil4]

Dear __________________,
We thought you would like to know that your Lulu order has shipped on 1/16/20 6:46 PM via FedEx.  

 

It's getting close...

 

Edit - Estimated delivery date: Jan 24th.  Patience is allegedly a virtue.

 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Dear __________________,
We thought you would like to know that your Lulu order has shipped on 1/16/20 6:46 PM via FedEx.  

 

It's getting close...

 

Edit - Estimated delivery date: Jan 24th.  Patience is allegedly a virtue.

 

holy wow!! that's crazy!! 

[Buckyeah]

Seth,

Looking forward to reading, thanks for all your content and prospect work. Just a heads up that I went to buy just now and Lulu site says it’s down for maintenance. Tried a few times and gave up. Thanks again for putting this together!

[Seth Stohs]

 

Seth, Looking forward to reading, thanks for all your content and prospect work. Just a heads up that I went to buy just now and Lulu site says it’s down for maintenance. Tried a few times and gave up. Thanks again for putting this together!

 

I've seen that quite a few times this past week from people on Twitter... usually it works within a few minutes again, and I have reached out to them and they are great in responding... I don't know why, but glad to hear from people that it fixes itself pretty quickly. 

[Seth Stohs]

Quick Update: 

 

There will be a 2021 Twins Prospect Handbook. With no Twins Fest, I don't necessarily need to have it done weeks before then. So, I am looking for that to be complete by the end of January, hopefully weeks before spring training. 

 

I have another project I have been working on the last month that will hopefully be ready this week to release... More information coming... soon... I hope. 

[mamcginnis]

As a Twins fan for years and living close to Wichita I am really looking forward to this!

[ashbury]

As a Twins fan for years and living close to Wichita I am really looking forward to this!

Welcome! We'll be counting on you for scouting reports.

 

[mamcginnis]

Looking forward to the season. (Knock on wood.)

[AZTwin]

Quick Update:

 

There will be a 2021 Twins Prospect Handbook. With no Twins Fest, I don't necessarily need to have it done weeks before then. So, I am looking for that to be complete by the end of January, hopefully weeks before spring training.

 

I have another project I have been working on the last month that will hopefully be ready this week to release... More information coming... soon... I hope.

What’s the point? How will it differentiate from last years handbook when there was no additional games to analyze?

[twinfan]

It's great fun to compare the prospect reports from year to year and see how many actually make it, with which teams they make it and how many of the top prospects are never heard from. Trying to develop this year's book is a challenge so it will be interesting. It can be very tough in any year to rank a prospect who is only in A ball or below.

[4twinsJA]

Looking forward to prospect report, there has been quite a bit of attrition and changes.

[gil4]

 

What’s the point? How will it differentiate from last years handbook when there was no additional games to analyze?

The point is I need something new to read while on the can.  Seth has sources. There have been changes. I'm sure it will be great. 

[AZTwin]

That’s good. I’m not interested in this years copy. Nothing changed and no need to spend the money in a year that money is tight for regular folks

[Ben Noble]

Seth has sources. There have been changes. I'm sure it will be great.

 

Agreed on all counts, and after a year without MiLB I desperately need a refresher of who’s in the system and how close they are to The Show. Can’t imagine a better group than the team at TD to provide that!

[4twinsJA]

 

Quick Update: 

 

There will be a 2021 Twins Prospect Handbook. With no Twins Fest, I don't necessarily need to have it done weeks before then. So, I am looking for that to be complete by the end of January, hopefully weeks before spring training. 

 

I have another project I have been working on the last month that will hopefully be ready this week to release... More information coming... soon... I hope. 

 

Soon?