Friday Links-N-Thinks: Minor League Edition

It has been one of the busiest weeks in the history of this blog as I have delved into a variety of topics surrounding the minor league system of the Minnesota Twins. My top 20 Twins prospects were released earlier this week. I looked at some of the age related issues facing players born in Latin America and how it impacts Miguel Sano, the number one prospect in the Twins organization. Yesterday, I shared an excerpt from the 2012 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook by previewing the 2012 MLB Draft.

This weekend also marks the annual gathering of fans for TwinsFest at the Metrodome. People from across Twins Territory will converge on downtown Minneapolis for autographs, baseball cards and memorabilia. Fans of the organization are eager to turn the page on last season and get prepared with the hope of 2012. I will be attending all three days of TwinsFest and you can look for my full report on festivities in the coming days.

To wrap-up my first "Minor League Appreciation Week," I have compiled a variety of links related to the minor league system of the Twins. Enjoy the links and I look forward to meeting some of you this weekend and getting reacquainted with those I have already met.

• MLB.com and Jonathan Mayo released their list of the top 100 prospects in all of baseball. With all the hype around the #2 and #3 players on the list, I was somewhat surprised by who was #1.
• Miguel Sano and Aaron Hicks were the Twins representatives in the MLB.com Top 100
• Chris Parmelee came in fifth on the list of top first basemen prospects in MLB.
• Miguel Sano finished runner-up in the race for best third base prospect. 
• John Manuel did a great job with his list of top Twins prospects for Baseball America. I enjoy the in-depth look they have with the "Best Tools" categories.
• Seth Stohs is the top prospect blogger for the Twins and he did a little analysis of his top 20 list.
• Stohs has also been looking at the organizational depth chart for each position in a series of posts from this week (Catchers, First Basemen, and Third Basemen).

• John Sickels at Minor League Ball continued his shadow Minnesota Twins Farm System. It is a fun piece to watch develop over the years.
• The folks over at Twinkie Town always have some good information with their Minor League Report.
• There could be plenty of prospect story lines to watch in 2012 but here are 10 familiar names to watch in 2012 from the Twins.
• The Baseball Outsider did a good job of examining the Baseball America Top Twins Prospects when they were released last week.
• Here was the Baseball Prospectus list of top talent in the Twins organization from a couple months ago.
• A couple days after Baseball Prospectus released their list, FanGraphs jumped on board with their top 15 prospects for the Twins.
• A site called Perfect Game USA put together a very detail list of the Twins farm system.
• Bullpen Banter had two lists from different writers and they have videos to go with it!
• Baseball Instinct also did a fantastic job with their prospect profiles for the Twins. Plus they have more videos!

Weekly Rundown

• Monday: 2012 Twins Top 20 Prospects, 11-20
• Tuesday: 2012 Twins Top 20 Prospects, 1-10
• Wednesday: How old is Miguel Sano?
• Thursday: Plotting a path through the 2012 MLB Draft

Video of the Week: Here is a quick video of Miguel Sano that was put together by MLB.com to accompany their Top 100 Prospect list. Sano was the only Twins player in their top 25 and his transition to a full season league will be watched closely next season by many people across baseball.