2017 Twins Off-Season top 60 Prospect List: Introduction

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.