Tenth Annual Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook Now Available

The 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook is chock-full of information on the Twins minor league system and its prospects. The handbook is a must-buy for fans of the Twins who understand that to develop a long-term championship-caliber team requires a lot of building from within. 2017 Twins team that jumped into the playoffs. While they did add a few veterans via free agency, the core of the Twins roster consisted of players that were developed in this system. As much as things may change in the front office and in the minor league development staff, the importance of the minor leagues continues to be vital for every Major League organization.

That is part of why I write this book. Twins fans should have a knowledge of the minor leaguers who could someday be members of the big league club.

I always envisioned that there are copies of the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook on coffee tables all around the Upper Midwest. When people are watching a Twins game on television and Dick Bremer mentions a minor leaguer, the fan picks up the handbook and learns even more about the player. A person who has already read the handbook will be able to impress their friends and family with knowledge of that player without even looking.

As I've always written in the prospect handbooks, another reason I write the book is because I believe wholeheartedly that the minor leaguers deserve to be recognized for all the work that they put in. Most minor leaguers don't even make a minimum-wage salary for what they are doing. The players work hard in season and in the offseason in an attempt and with a goal to reach the Major Leagues. The Twins have a fairly strong minor league system with a lot of depth. There are a lot of players with the potential to be solid contributors at the big league level. Some will make it. Some won't. That's just the reality. But nevertheless they all deserve to be talked about and written about.

Here is a listing of some of what you'll find in the 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect handbook.

• Let’s start with what I consider the meat-and-potatoes of the Prospect Handbook, the prospect profiles. Can book contains 169 profiles of twins minor league prospects. That number is a little higher than it has been in previous years. Cody wrote the Header information, organized pictures, and put the book together. Tom wrote the 2017 Recap for each player. Seth wrote a background and a scouting report for all 169 players.
  
• As we have done in the past, we have stories on the Twins Daily 2017 Minor League Award winners. Jeremy Nygaard wrote a story on Hitter of the Year Mitch Garver. Tom wrote the story on two-time Starting Pitcher of the Year Stephen Gonsalves. Finally, Seth wrote an article on Relief Pitcher of the Year John Curtiss. Each story includes quotes from those players.
  
• In addition, we had a couple of guest writers. Ted Schwerzler wrote two stories; his annual timeline story, and a story on one of the other Twins top prospects. Ben Chase, who writes at Puckett's Pond, also wrote an article for this year's Handbook.
  
• You will also be able to see our top 30 Twins Prospect rankings. Find out who made my final list. It is a little bit different than what I posted last month. But I also share my historical top 30 rankings going back to 2005. It's fun to look back and remember those names and see who you are right about and who you may have missed a little bit on. You can also see the top 30 list or Cody, Tom, and Jeremy.
  
• And more. There are a couple more stories. There are 138 pages of Twins minor league content.
  
• Former Twins blogger Josh Johnson put together the cover of this year’s handbook and did a great job. It features Nick Gordon, Royce Lewis and Brent Rooker. I think it looks great. Here is a look at the full cover:
  

It’s also fun for me to see several people getting their Prospect Handbooks signed by players. No one does it better that @TCAnelle who often posts photos of her signatures on her twitter account.

The Release

We had thought about waiting to release the 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook until next week sometime, but it’s done, and it’s ready, so we thought we would make it available now.

This way, you can actually order the book, print a copy of the cover, and give it as a Christmas gift or stocking stuffer.

As we have in previous years, the 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook is available in two ways. You can buy the print version, or you can buy the e-book and immediately download the pdf. Maybe the best option is to buy both. You can order the e-book and read it now while waiting for the printed version to arrive in your mailbox. Again, use the promo code LULU20 for 20% off of print versions (through December 25th).

As always, we welcome your feedback on the book. We are very proud of the end result. It’s been a three-month process to put it together, and yet it’s been a year in the making. We certainly appreciate your support of this effort.

As you know, Twins Daily is the leader in terms of Twins minor league content. We take a lot of pride in that and do not take it for granted. We provide the daily Twins Minor League Reports throughout the season. We often post Q&As with Twins minor leaguers to get to know them. We focus heavily on the draft as well. This prospect handbook is a fun complement to all of that and something you can use for the entire year.

One thing I am curious about, however… Which prospect handbooks have been your favorites, particularly the covers? Here is a quick look at the past prospect handbooks for you to rank. How does the 2018 cover rank for you?

If you have any questions or comment, please let me know. And again, I hope you’ll consider purchasing a Prospect Handbook or six for the 2018 season!