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Top 60 Twins Prospects 2016:
 
1. Jose Berrios
2. Max Kepler
3. Nick Gordon
4. Jorge Polanco
5. Tyler Jay
6. Stephen Gonsalves
7. Nick Burdi
8. Lewis Thorpe
9. Kohl Stewart
10. Adam Brett Walker
11. J.T. Chargois
12. Felix Jorge
13. Engelb Vielma
14. Taylor Rogers
15. Alex Meyer
16. Brandon Peterson
17. Wander Javier
18. Jermaine Palacios
19. Jake Reed
20. LaMonte Wade
21. Tanner English
22. Lewin Diaz
23. Daniel Palka
24. Yorman Landa
25. Fernando Romero
26. Randy Rosario
27. Amaryus Minier
28. Travis Blankenhorn
29. Aaron Slegers
30. Niko Goodrum
31. Travis Harrison
32. Mason Melotakis
33. Stuart Turner
34. Mitch Garver
35. Brian Navarreto
36. Trey Cabbage
37. Trevor Hildenberger
38. Lachlan Wells
39. Rainis Silva
40. Huascar Ynoa
41. Kuo Hua Lo
42. Chris Paul
43. Corey Williams
44. Kolton Kendrick
45. Zach Granite
46. Jorge Fernandez
47. Sam Gibbons
48. Logan Darnell
49. D.J. Baxendale
50. Luke Bard
51. Michael Cederoth
52. Ryan Eades
53. Dereck Rodriguez
54. Rafael Valera
55. Luis Arraez
56. Luke Westphal
57. D.J. Hicks
58. Jason Wheeler
59. James Beresford
60. Alex Wimmers

Luke Pettersen is an infielder on the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher baseball team. He is currently studying entrepreneurial management, marketing, baseball, and video games.
 
My love for baseball began long before I knew how to pick up a bat. The first day I arrived home from the hospital, I hunkered into a sling close to my dad’s chest while he chased my brothers around the bases in the backyard (it seems the youngest child doesn’t get the royal treatment).
 
As I grew older, I perched on his back in the third base coaching box where I held the best view for all the little league games. My parents frequently recall the first time I held a bat and how I wiggled it and squatted low into my stance, peering at an imaginary pitcher on the mound. In my opinion, I’m just lucky I watched more left-handed hitters those first few years.
 
I first learned competition in the backyards of a suburban neighborhood. In a community full of future collegiate athletes, the older and more developed opponents tended to prevail. And as kids do, I looked up to all of them. So naturally, I tagged along day after day, even through defeat.
 
One of my biggest role models emerged from that neighborhood crew, my brother AJ, who some of you may be familiar with through his posts on Twins Daily. I had the privilege of watching his career unfold as a division I, and eventually, professional baseball player. All the while, I focused on my own aspirations, following in his footsteps to one day wear the maroon and gold.
 
I accomplished my goal through numerous failures, lots of video, an incredibly supportive family, and a little bit of luck. It’s an odd feeling when a dream becomes a reality… but for me, it has simply triggered greater ambitions.
 
Through a year and a half of collegiate baseball I have formed friendships around the country, experiencing the highs of highs and the lows of lows, sharing abundant laughs and most significantly, learning about myself.
 
I like turf, knocking a three pointer with a hand in my face, moms frozen dinners, and hitting tees. I dislike snow (unless there’s enough to cancel class), rocks in the infield, and Brussels sprouts.
 
I hope to share insight into the everyday life of a collegiate athlete, from the ups and downs of road trips, to the hours of video games in the offseason.
 
If there’s anything you’d like me to write about, leave a comment. I’m all ears.
 
Go around the bases and learn more about me at http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/103015aaa.html
 
 
You can follow Luke on twitter @Lpett47

Author’s Note: Thank you for checking out this story. My name is Mat Batts and I hope to bring you some stories and insight from the minor league lifestyle here on Twins Daily throughout the season. This will be my second season (first full) in the Twins organization and my second stint here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I look forward to getting to know a lot of you—online or in person—as we move forward this summer. I hope you enjoy!
 
It’s no secret that player appearances can be, well, uncomfortable for players. Each affiliate will have their promotional staff post sign up sheets in the clubhouse for various appearances and events, asking players to participate at least a few times during the season. Incentives for players can range from food vouchers and coupons to even a small cash payment at some levels. Even still, there’s hardly a mad rush to fill up the lines on each sheet.
 
It’s not that players dislike being involved in the community or meeting their fans and neighbors. But in most cases player appearances can tend toward the awkward side of things for both the players and group or event at hand. Very few of us are trained public speakers and even fewer have experience teaching or leading young children. Not to mention the timing of most of these events takes place in the mornings, most likely after a night game, or even a road game. I know, sounds torturous, right?
 
Well, during our first few days here in Iowa, we were given the speech and expectations. First up was the Kernels Reading Program. Sign up with a teammate to travel to two schools one morning and talk about the importance of reading and end the seminar with the reading of a brief children’s book.
 
John Curtiss and I decided why not knock it out and sign up for the first appearance. And there we are, in front of 400 kindergarten-second graders and later 400 more third-fifth graders, reading Quacky Baseball and offering the students an opportunity to take part in an incentive-based reading program with the Cedar Rapids Kernels.
Leaving those two schools, I have to admit my perception of the player appearances could not have been more off. In just two hours John and I, along with Kernels Community Relations staff member Ryne George had reached nearly 800 students discussing the importance of daily reading in their lives. Students are offered the chance to log reading minutes with goals and incentives at each 250-minute level. Ryne and his staff hope to reach more than 20,000 students across Cedar Rapids and Iowa City this season.
 
The Twins and their affiliates are no strangers to community service projects during the season. In fact, the Twins have even established a yearly award named in honor of the infamously charitable Harmon Killebrew to recognize one player at each minor league level for superior community service involvement during the season. This award, named alongside the Twins minor league pitcher and players of the year awards, gives players a competitive edge to an already rewarding system established here in Cedar Rapids and elsewhere throughout the organization.