Seth Stohs

Today’s installment begins with an article on a player that the Twins, and probably 90% of the teams in baseball, would love to have on their team. Feel free to discuss these articles. Click into them and read the articles as well as some of the comments in them. 20. Real Deal What would it take to get JT Realmuto - July 9 As the July trade deadline was approaching, Nick Nelson wrote an article attempting to project what it might take for the Twins to acquire JT Realmuto. While the Twins were not traditional buyers, Nick pointed out that Realmuto was a guy who was available for a couple of seasons and potentially for a long-term deal. Of course, he noted that the Marlins would likely request Alex Kirilloff and Brusdar Graterol in a deal that would likely include a couple more players as well. Is such a deal still possible this offseason since Realmuto is still a member of the Marlins as their asking price remains exceedingly high? 19. 2018 Top Prospects #7 Brent Rooker - February 12 Twins fans have been intrigued by the power potential of Brent Rooker since the Twins drafted him in the compensation round following the first round in 2017. He debuted and powered his way up to the High-A Ft. Myers Miracle where he continued to mash home runs. Heading into the season, he was the Twins Daily choice for the #7 Twins prospect and there was some talk that he could debut in 2018. That didn’t happen, though he certainly continued to hit with power in the Southern League at Chattanooga. 18. 4 Creative Tweaks the Twins can make to get better - November 27 What role could we see Trevor May or Fernando Romero pitch in during the 2019 season. How much should Willians Astudillo play? When we returned from Thanksgiving, Nick posted this interesting article with some ideas for the Twins brass to consider as they dove into the offseason. 17. The Yu Darvish Contingency Plan - February 10 Well, the Twins were fortunate that Yu Darvish decided to sign with the Cubs. When that news broke, Cody Christie tried to provided readers with options that were still available He wrote about some free agents that were still available, as well as some possible trade targets. As we know, the Twins did get one of those free agents. 16. Breaking News - Twins Trade Rodney to A’s - August 9 The Twins were busy at the end of July, making several trades. That continued into August when their hard-throwing, sometimes erratic closer was dealt to the Oakland A’s in exchange for Dakota Chalmers. Rodney helped the A’s into the playoffs, and the team picked up his 2019 option. Chalmers was the A’s third-round pick in 2015 out of high school in Georgia. He throws hard, though he doesn’t always throw strikes. He had Tommy John surgery early in the 2018 season. 15. 2018 Twins midseason top prospect list (1-5) - July 12 At Twins Daily, we publish our choices for the Twins top prospects before the season. Then in late June or early July, we update the rankings. Fans often viewed our top five choices at midseason. The list may look a little bit different again when we do our 2019 Twins Top Prospect Rankings. 14. Where can the Twins find some OBP for their lineup - December 2 Joe Mauer retired and Robbie Grossman was not tendered arbitration for the 2019 season. The two were clearly the Twins most patient, disciplined hitters and guys that could be counted on to put the ball in play most of the time. Nick wondered where the Twins might be able to find some hitters that could make up for the loss in on-base percentage. Have they accomplished this goal yet? 13. 2018 MLB Draft Day 2 thread - June 6 Like I wrote yesterday, Twins Daily covers the Twins draft like no one else, and our readers really enjoy the discussion. In the article, we review the selections from the first night of the draft before updating the site with each of the Twins picks from the third through the tenth rounds. The Twins didn’t have a third-round pick this year, having given it up to sign Lance Lynn. 12. Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects 1 Royce Lewis - February 20 The choice for the Twins top prospect before the 2018 season was pretty easy. Royce Lewis was the first overall pick in the 2017 draft and impressed in his professional debut not only in the Gulf Coast League but also in Cedar Rapids. Lewis continued to play well throughout the 2018 season and moved into the Top 10 prospects in baseball. However, when we put out the Twins Daily Top Prospect rankings (maybe later this month), will Lewis be able to hold off Alex Kirilloff and Brusdar Graterol to remain at #1? Well, you’ll just want to come back to see. 11. How soon could Royce Lewis call Target Field home - August 7 Write about Royce Lewis and people will read it. I often get asked either when Lewis will get called up to the Twins, or why the Twins are moving him up so slowly. So, I decided to do a little research. I looked at other top first-round pick shortstops to see what their timeline looked like relative to where Lewis was. To say that Lewis is ahead of the pace of both Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor should be exciting to Twins fans. So there you have it, the 11th-20th ranked Twins Daily articles according to page in 2018. Offseason speculation, an August trade, and top prospects (especially Royce Lewis) certainly lead the way in today’s installment. Be sure to check back in the next couple of days to find out what the Top 10 most-viewed articles on Twins Daily were in 2018.

In Part 1 today, find out which articles ranked 21 - 30 in terms of most viewed articles of 2018. 30. Twins to Hire Rocco Baldelli as Manager - October 24 Late on the night of October 24th, reports started trickling out that the Twins had made their decision. Derek Shelton had been informed that he would not be the next Twins manager, and Rocco Baldelli would be named manager. The next morning, the Twins made it official. It is interesting to me that a managerial hire would fall this far down the list, but generally speaking, articles on players or strategies, etc., get more discussion. 29. Twins Select Trevor Larnach in First Round - June 4 Drafting 20th overall is a little different than having the first overall pick. It’s much more difficult to know who the Twins might have available to them, much less who they will take. When their pick came, they selected outfielder Trevor Larnach out of the Oregon State. Following the draft, he played hero in his team’s march toward the College World Series championship. After signing, he played briefly in Elizabethton before joining the Cedar Rapids Kernels to end the season. https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/1003827872627294209 28. 2018 MLB Draft Day 3 Thread - June 6 At Twins Daily, we take a lot of pride in the draft coverage that we have provided in recent years. It started with Jeremy Nygaard’s hard work and great sources. In 2018, Andrew Thares took over the draft coverage and did a great job. The draft is clearly a major event for Twins Daily readers as even our Day 3 of the draft article made the Top 30. Maybe it is because we update the article after each of the Twins 30 Day 3 selections (Rounds 11-40). You never know when you’ll find a late-round sleeper. 27. The Wall of Ground Ball Prevention - February 15 While most articles in this Top 30 are Twins-related, this Parker Hageman feature doesn’t mention the Twins. What it is a a very interesting article on how teams (professional and college) are working to help hitters increase launch angle. 26. Why I believe the Twins are going to sign Yu Darvish - January 8 A year ago at this time the Twins had made some bullpen moves (Zack Duke, Fernando Rodney). But most Twins fans coveted Yu Darvish, the ace-right-hander who finished the 2017 season with the Dodgers after five-and-a-half with the Texas Rangers. That was a big part of why Twins fans were hopeful that Darvish might sign with the Twins, the Rangers connection between Darvish and Thad Levine. Nick Nelson wrote an article pointing out several reasons that he felt the Twins were the favorites to sign Yu Darvish. Of course, one year into his six year, $126 million with the Cubs, Twins fans are thankful that the Twins did not acquire him. 25. Ryan LaMarre just might make the Twins opening day roster - March 24 Ryan LaMarre was one of the best stories of spring training. He was coming off of an injury and the Twins signed him to a minor league contract. He had made several adjustments to his swing, and he hit well all spring. His speed and defense made him the choice for the team’s fourth/fifth outfielder on Opening Day. In spring training, I had the chance to chat with him for a while about why the Twins were the right choice for him last offseason. 24. Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #2 Fernando Romero - February 19 Each year, Twins Daily provides our choice for the Twins top 20 prospects before spring training. Romero has been a top prospect for several years, even through his two missed years of development time due to Tommy John surgery. That didn’t change coming into the 2018 season. Just a few months later, Romero made his major league debut with a strong showing. 23. Twins Sign Anibal Sanchez No Really - February 16 Just as spring training was about to start, the Twins announced the signing of Anibal Sanchez. It was a non-guaranteed deal that could have been worth $2.5 million. Admittedly, most - if not all - Twins fans hated (or at least didn’t understand) the signing and specifically why it needed to be a MLB deal. Maybe that’s why this was a Top 25 article in 2018. Over his final three seasons of a six-year deal with the Tigers, Sanchez went 20-30 with a 5.67 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. As we now know, Sanchez didn’t stick around long. The Twins soon signed Lance Lynn to a one-year contract. We were all excited, and Sanchez was released. Atlanta claimed him and he went 7-6 with a 2.83 ERA this year. He turned that into a two-year, $19 million deal (with a third-year option) with the Nationals. 22. 5 Things the Twins absolutely must accomplish this offseason - September 20 As the disappointing 2018 Twins season came to an end, Nick Nelson wrote up a set of five Must-Do’s for the Twins front office in this offseason. To this point, none of the five have happened, but to be fair, a couple of those things have not yet needed to be done. For me, if #3 is completed this offseason, I will call the offseason a success. 21. Is Paul Molitor the right man to lead the Twins? - June 18 While Paul Molitor was the easy choice or AL Manager of the Year in 2017, 2018 started out badly, and by mid-June, Nick Nelson penned this article wondering aloud if Molitor was the right choice for the Twins. There is no doubting Molitor’s intelligence and baseball IQ, along with his willingness to use new analytics and new thinking. Well, as we now know, soon after the completion of the season, the Twins announced that Paul Molitor had been fired. It was very interesting to me to see that the article announcing the Molitor dismissal barely made the Top 50 articles of the year at Twins Daily. Not sure I can really explain that. In the coming days, we’ll continue to count down the Top 30 most viewed Twins Daily articles of 2018. They are fun to look back at, to read what we wrote, and to read the comments of what people thought at that time. Hopefully you will enjoy this look back as we now look forward to 2019.

14 players made their major league debut for the Twins in 2017. So it shouldn’t be so bad to just write about eight of them this year. Some made strong first impressions. Some struggled. Most are somewhere in the middle. Tyler Kinley - April 7, 2018 The Twins selected right-handed relief pitcher Tyler Kinley in the December 2017 Rule 5 draft from the Miami Marlins organization. The right-hander reached into the upper-90s, and he had a sharp slider. Rarely did he have control. Hence, he was left unprotected. He made the Twins Opening Day roster. It took a while, but in the Twins seventh game, they found themselves down big, so Kinley got the ball for the ninth inning. He came in and did as reported. He threw hard. He gave up one run on one hit. He walked one and struck out two batters. But he pitched just once in the Twins first 11 games. He pitched three times over the Twins next six games. He had one good outing, but over his final two outings, he gave up eight runs on seven hits and three walks in just 1 1/3 innings. The Twins designated him for assignment, and after clearing waivers, he was returned to the Marlins. He was called up to the Marlins in September. He pitched in nine games. He gave up five runs in one of those outings. In the other eight games (10.1 innings), he gave up just one run. Fernando Romero - May 2, 2018 Romero has long been a Twins prospect, but after missing two seasons with Tommy John surgery, the Twins have kept an eye on his innings. But, he has moved quickly up the system. He had impressed in his spring training outings the past two seasons, and fans got very excited when they learned that he was coming up to start for the Twins. On a sunny day in early May, Romero got Twins fans even more excited. Not only was he throwing hard, but he showed a good changeup and a good slider. Against the Blue Jays, Romero threw 5 2/3 innings and did not allow a run. He gave up four hits, walked three and struck out five. His second start was in St. Louis and he was even better. He threw six shutout innings and gave up just three hits and three walks. He struck out nine batters. In his third start, he went head-to-head with Angels star rookie Shohei Ohtani. He gave up a run, but just one hit, over five innings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2bbJtgLDdA In his first five starts, Romero went 2-1 with a 1.88 ERA. His sixth start did not go well. He gave up eight earned runs in just 1 2/3 innings. Then over his next five starts, he went 1-1 with a 5.33 ERA. He was sent to Rochester and continued to make starts. He was not called up in September due to an innings limit. 2019 will be Romero’s final option season. Will he get another opportunity to start? Could he be moved in to late-inning relief duties? Jake Cave - May 19, 2018 The Twins acquired outfielder Jake Cave in a mid-March trade with the Yankees in exchange for hard-throwing prospect Luis Gil. He got a few games in big league spring training before heading to minor league camp. With Zack Granite out most of the year with a shoulder injury, Cave got an opportunity and really stepped up. His big league debut came at Target Field against the Brewers. He batted seventh and played center field. He went 1-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. The one hit? A two-run homer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvG1wp4Zpuc He played in three games before heading back to the Red Wings. He was called up again in early June, and then called up for good late in June. With the Byron Buxton injury, Cave was able to play most every day. He responded by hitting .265/.313/.473 (.786) with 16 doubles and 13 home runs in 91 games. Some of those homers went a long way! The Twins named him the Bill Boni Award recipient as Twins Outstanding Rookie. In addition, the Twins had five episodes of The Man Cave Show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi7L6MLs834 https://twitter.com/SethTweets/status/1046496609582895104 Zack Littell - June 5, 2018 The Twins had a doubleheader and it was Littell who was called up as the team’s 26th man. Littell began his big league career by striking out Yoan Moncada. He gave up two runs in the first inning after that though. He threw two zeroes on the board. However, Littell began the fourth inning by walking the first two batters. He was replaced and both runners scored. So, in three innings, he was charged with four runs on six hits and four walks. Littell averaged just 2.5 walks per nine innings in his minor league career (to this point). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmQBbLhdgG0 Littell came back to the Twins when they needed an arm in early July, and then he ended the season with a September call up. He was the youngest player to play for the Twins in 2018. Only Lewis Thorpe pitched at a younger age at Rochester in 2018. Thorpe is about six weeks younger. The Twins acquired Littell (with Dietrich Enns) in late July of 2017 from the Yankees in exchange for Jaime Garcia. Willians Astudillo, - June 30, 2018 When the Twins signed Astudillo about a year ago at this time, it was an intriguing signing. As we’ve learned, Astudillo pretty much refuses to walk or strike out. He was named to the 2018 International League All-Star game, but he couldn’t play because the 26-year-old was in the big leagues. Astudillo probably had the best short MLB debut since Josmil Pinto’s incredible 2013 September. Remember that awful series in Chicago at the end of June? Well, so does Astudillo. He entered that June 30th game in the late innings, replacing Eddie Rosario in left field. Astudillo went 1-for-2 and had an RBI in that game. He played in a very limited role in seven games over the next two weeks, none at catcher. He played left field, center field, third base, second base, DHd and even pitched. None at his “normal’ position, catcher. He was sent back down but returned to the big leagues with about a week remaining in August. That’s when the Legend of La Tortuga took off. Of his 29 games played, he had multi-hit games in ten games. Eight of those games came in his final 16 games. He showed he could catch a little. He proved to people that “chubby people can run too.” He showed a flare for the dramatic (including a ), and the best thing he showed was some fantastic hair!He showed enough that MLB put out a Great Moments video for Willians Astudillo’s 2018 season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euIc7RwzFwQ More Tortuga Hidden Ball Trick in Rochester: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S5DfuTk6Tw No-Look Pick-off in Spring training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JG-ZnnqSWw Kohl Stewart - August 12, 2018 Stewart was the Twins first-round pick in June of 2014 out of high school in Houston. He was not protected on the Twins 40-man roster a year ago and went unclaimed. In mid-August, the front office determined that they wanted to get a look at Stewart in the big leagues. His debut came in Detroit. Just to make sure it wasn’t easy, they had him debut after the Tigers honored Jack Morris in a pre-game celebration. Stewart responded well. Through four innings, he gave up zero runs. However, he went out for the fifth inning and it didn’t go well. After getting the first out, Stewart gave up four straight singles before a walk ended his day. In total, he was charged with three runs on eight hits. He walked one, hit one and struck out three. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRytcqCeCvI His breakout game, per se, came in his first outing. He entered the game as a “primary” pitcher and threw five shutout innings in front of friends and family in Houston against the Astros. In his final two starts, he threw 12 innings and did not give up an earned run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3a4q7eB2Yo Stephen Gonsalves - August 20, 2018 Eight days after Stewart debuted, fellow 2014 draft pick, Stephen Gonsalves (fourth round) was at Target Field for his MLB debut. Like Stewart, Gonsalves’s debut was delayed. As he was about to start warming up, the rains came and there was a delay. Gonsalves pitched a scoreless first inning. The second inning didn’t go as well and didn’t get out of the inning. In total, he gave up four runs on six hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings. He struck out three. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS9_r4QTxrk He really struggled in his first four starts, but he pitched much better over his final three appearances, all as a “primary” starter. He gave up just one run over 12 1/3 innings. He went 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA. Opponents hit just .098/.260/.098 (.358) off of him. There were too many walks, and he knows it, but it was something to build upon. His best game was his penultimate start of the season when he threw six scoreless, one-hit innings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dfoog5BpDs Andrew Vasquez - September 1, 2018 Vasquez began the season in Ft. Myers and pitched in the mid-June Florida State League All-Star game. He moved up to Chattanooga for a month, and then Rochester for a week, and then was called up on September 1st. He made the trip from Rochester to Arlington and arrived as the game was starting. He came in to start the seventh inning. It’s fair to say that his nerves showed. The first batter reached on his error. He gave up a ground ball single. After a fly out, Vasquez picked off Rougned Odor, but he dropped the ball on the rundown for his second error of the inning. He got a ground out back to himself. He got through it. He pitched in nine total games for the Twins but the highlight was his final game. Not only was he a part of Joe Mauer’s final game, but he struck out the side in his inning https://twitter.com/SethTweets/status/1046498419198627842 He was named the Twins Daily Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year. For much more on Andrew Vasquez, there is a feature story in the 2019 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook. The other rookies to play for the Minnesota Twins in 2018 were Matt Magill, Gabriel Moya, Chase De Jong, Aaron Slegers, John Curtiss, Mitch Garver and Ryan LaMarre. They had all made their MLB debuts in previous seasons. Discuss the Twins 2018 rookies, their debuts, and which will take a step forward in 2019 and beyond. Secondly, which rookies do you think will debut for the Twins in 2019?

According to Enrique Rojas (ESPN), the deal will be worth $14 million and includes a club option for $12 million in 2020 (with a $300,000 buyout) In other words, Cruz is guaranteed $14.3 million and the deal could be worth as much as $26 million over two seasons. The 38-year-old has been an All-Star the last two years and five of the last six seasons. In 2018, he hit .256/.342/.509 (.850) with 18 doubles and 37 home runs with the Seattle Mariners. The three previous seasons, he had an OPS over .900. Formerly an outfielder, Cruz has only played in the field during games in the National League the last couple of seasons. According to Jon Heyman, the Astros and Rays both made very competitive offers to Cruz, but he chose to sign with the Twins. One can't help but wonder how much his relationship in Texas with Thad Levine factored in, or if it was solely about the money. You may recall that Nelson Cruz served a 50-game PED suspension near the end of the 2013 season. In the five seasons since then, he has hit .281/.356/.5411 (.897) with an average of 25 doubles and just over 40 home runs per year. The Twins roster was at 40, so an additional roster move will need to be made when the deal is complete. More details to come.

The following is an excerpt from the 2019 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook, an article from Rochester Red Wings Media Relations Director Nate Rowan: Roughly 250 miles from New York City in Western New York sits Rochester, home of the Red Wings, the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins for the last 16 seasons. The Wings have known just two other MLB affiliates since 1928: the St. Louis Cardinals and the Baltimore Orioles. Rochester’s baseball history dates back to 1877 and the city has had a franchise in what is now known as the International League as early as 1885. According to Rochester sports historian Douglas Brei, the current team has been operating since 1899, one of only six franchises in North American professional sports to have been playing in the same city and same league continuously and uninterrupted since the 19th century. The others? All Major League teams: the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cardinals. Rochester was a member of the International League in 1885 and has played parts of 131 seasons in the league since, except three: 1890, 1893 and 1894. The team played in the Major Leagues as part of the American Association in 1890, going 63-63. A fire burned down the home of the team, Culver Field, after the 1892 season ended and forced a two-year hiatus of professional baseball in Rochester. The team was known by several nicknames from 1877-1927 until the eventual purchase of the franchise by Branch Rickey and the Cardinals prior to the 1928 season. Rickey had envisioned a system of teams that would develop and supply players for St. Louis. Prior to this, minor league teams operated independently and would sell players to Major League teams. A ‘Name the Team’ contest was held in February, 1928 and eventual National Baseball Hall of Famer and Rochester General Manager Warren Giles decided on ‘Red Wings’ out of the roughly 700 suggestions. The local newspaper reported that Giles decided on the name for several reasons. He liked that it was unique among other organized baseball teams. He also liked that the team would serve as a wing of St. Louis. Lastly, Cardinals were birds with red wings. -------------------------------------------------------- Back in those days, Havana, Cuba had a team in the league known as the Sugar Kings. A trip to Havana in 1959 nearly ended in tragedy. The Red Wings and Sugar Kings were playing a doubleheader on July 25th when, at the stroke of midnight, shots rang out in the streets and at the stadium to celebrate the first anniversary of Fidel Castro’s ascent to power. Rochester had taken the lead in the top of the 11th inning, but in the bottom half, Sugar Kings batter Jesse Gonder led off with a double. Rochester manager Cot Deal wanted first base umpire Frank Guzzetta to ask for help on the play in which Deal insisted Gonder missed first base. As Deal would recall in a 1994 interview: “Guzzetta notified me that there was no way he was going to ask for help to make a questionable call against the Sugar Kings with all those gun-toting fans in the stands. He told me we’d have a riot.” Deal would be ejected and Havana tied the game. Deal told infielder Frank Verdi to take over as manager, meaning Verdi would assume third base coaching duties as well. With one out in the top of the 12th, more shots rang out in the stadium. Verdi and Sugar Kings player Leo Cárdenas were struck by bullets. The plastic lining Verdi wore inside his cap deflected the bullet into his shoulder and away from his head, though he did lose a chunk of his ear. The umpires called the game, and the rest of the series was cancelled. Havana would keep a team until July 8, 1960, when Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick moved the team to Jersey City, New Jersey. ---------------------------------------------------------- Any baseball fan has seen Bull Durham, or at least heard of it. That movie was written and directed by former Red Wing Ron Shelton, who appeared in 79 games for the team from 1970-71. Shelton developed the plot and characters from his own experiences and observations as a minor leaguer. As stated in the book Silver Seasons and a New Frontier by Jim Mandelaro and Scott Pitoniak, the plot was inspired by stories Altobelli would tell about a hard-throwing, wild pitcher whom the Orioles designated as the veteran Alto’s roommate in an effort to control his off-the-field behavior. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1988. Shelton would go on to write and/or direct White Men Can’t Jump in 1992, Cobb in 1994 and Tin Cup in 1996, among other works. ----------------------------------------------------------- Other stories include the longest game in professional baseball history, an impressive list of opponents who played their final minor league games against the Red Wings, Irabu Fever, and a recent, very unique no-hitter. To read more about the Twins' impressive Triple-A affiliate and much more about the Twins minor leagues, grab your copy (or copies) of the 2019 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook. Paperback version PDF version

Ten years ago, I got the idea of taking my knowledge of the Twins minor league system and turning it into a coffee table book for Twins fans. Think about how often during a Twins game Dick Bremer will mention a minor league player and someone wonders aloud who that player is and when we might see him in the big leagues. Reach down to your coffee table, grab the Prospect Handbook and sound like a genius when you tell him all about that player, his background, his stats and a scouting report on him. That was the original purpose of the book, but now it’s even more than that. First, my “knowledge of the Twins minor league system” wasn’t real high in 2008 relative to now. Second, it’s constantly evolving and I still know only a percentage of all there is to know. We have seen the evolution of the game on and off the field. The Twins have made many changes in their minor leagues. They’ve switched affiliates. They’ve added technology. They’ve added more coaches and coordinators. The goal is to make the players the best they can be and use whatever they can to get them to the big leagues and contribute. Third, and really probably #1 on this point, is the saying that has been included in every single Twins Prospect Handbook since that first edition and will again be in the 11th annual Twins Prospect Handbook as well. 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, and they earn what they get. Sometimes that means a big league career, and sometimes it means peaking in A-ball. So, here is a quick look at what you will find if you order a copy of the 2019 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook (which will again be available in paperback and PDF). THE COVER Finn Pearson, who has done a lot of really good graphic work for Twins Daily since earlier this year, did a very nice job on the cover It would be hard for me to explain if we had gone with anyone other than Alex Kirilloff and Royce Lewis on the 2019 handbook cover. You will also notice that the beautiful stadium in Pensacola is in the background. The home of the new Twins Double-A affiliate sits right along the Gulf of Mexico. THE AUTHORS Seth Stohs - As mentioned above, this is my 11th Twins Prospect Handbook. Hard to believe. I wrote three articles for the handbook this year. I wrote the three Twins Daily Minor League Award winner articles. I had 30+ minute phone interviews with our three winners, Alex Kirilloff, Tyler Wells and Andrew Vasquez and penned an in-depth article on each. There are a lot of similarities in the stories and their are a couple of very solid relationships among these players. And as you saw the other day, they have a lot of respect for each other. Cody Christie - Cody was first a Co-Author on the Prospect Handbook in 2013. He wrote an interesting article looking into the first few seasons of Joe Mauer’s professional career and compared it to whatt Royce Lewis has done. Has there been a passing of the torch? Tom Froemming - This is Tom’s second Prospect Handbook. He wrote an article about how the Twins have brought in so much young talent over the last couple of years since Derek Falvey took the reigns. They have really used every potential means. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Hayes - Hayes joined The Athletic as the Twins beat writer almost a year ago, and he has been a terrific writer and a great follow on Twitter this offseason. We are thrilled that he wrote an article for this year’s Prospect Handbook. He wrote about a lot of the changes that happened over the last year or so in the Twins minor league system on and off the field. Chris Blessing - Chris writes about prospects for BaseballHQ.com and several other sites including USA Today Sports Weekly and the Minor League Baseball Analyst. In his scouting, he has seen many Chattanooga Lookouts games in recent years, and he noticed some things about Twins prospects in 2018 that are encouraging. Ted Schwerzler - Ted has contributed an article the last few years in which he projects which prospects will make their debuts with the Twins in 2019 and when. For the first time we have enlisted the help of the Twins minor league affiliates and have an article from each of the affiliates (with the exception of the GCL Twins). Rochester Red Wings media relations director Nate Rowan wrote a great article on the rich history of the Red Wings and baseball in Rochester. Includes some remarkable stories including one from a game the Red Wings played in Cuba in 1959 that got more than a little scary. Daniel Venn did a Q&A for Twins Daily recently. He is the media relations director for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Daniel shared with us the relatively short, but interesting history of the Blue Wahoos. Marshall Kelner is the media relations director for the Ft. Myers Miracle. He wrote an article on the team’s history and the 2018 Miracle Florida State League championship team. A long-time contributor at Twins Daily and of the Prospect Handbook, Steve Buhr met with the Cedar Rapids Kernels front office for a very interesting article on how much winning matters to a minor league affiliate. Mike Gallagher was the play-by-play man of the Elizabethton Twins. He wrote about the E-Twins long history with the Twins organization and recent legislation that hopefully will keep that relationship intact moving forward. Mariana Guzman writes at Twins Latinos. She wrote a good article about the 2018 season in the Dominican Summer League including who some of the better prospects might be on that team. Who could be the guys moving up to the Gulf Coast League in 2019? We admittedly have not covered the Twins Dominican Summer League in the book or on Twins Daily as much as we should, so this is a great addition to the book. THE PROFILES We like to call the prospect profiles the meat and potatoes of the Prospect Handbook. There are over 160 profiles of Twins minor leaguers in the book. I might give you an exact number, but we will update the book after Thursday’s Rule 5 draft to add any players that the Twins select. So, that number is subject to change between now and the book’s release. 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 2018 statistics. The 2018 Recaps were written by Tom Froemming and they, well, recap the player’s 2018 season. I (Seth) wrote up the Background section and the Scouting Report. The Background covers their amateur days and previous seasons. The Scouting Report provides, well, a scouting report on the player. We also include a Forecast for ‘19 in which we try to give a good idea of where each player could spend the 2019 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. So there you have it. The 2019 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook is coming very soon. Keep checking back to Twins Daily and we will let you know when it is available. It’s something that Tom, Cody and I are really proud of. It just keeps getting bigger and better, and we hope that you will enjoy it too!