‘Tis the time of year when many analysts and websites will be ranking minor league systems across baseball before the regular season for the majors and minor leagues kick off. On Wednesday, Keith Law of ESPN ranked the farm systems across baseball, and the Pittsburgh Pirates came in at eighth. This is down one spot from a year ago, but the Pirates continue to put out a top ten farm system in the eyes of many year after year. Here’s what Law had to say about the Pirates’ system:
“For the Pirates to maintain this strong of a system with a low payroll and a highly competitive major league team is one of the more under-the-radar stories in the game over the past few years. They landed four players in the top 100 and could easily land six or seven next winter.”
Law mentions that the Pirates placed four prospects in his top 100 list (which hasn’t been released yet), which is in line with many teams with average farm systems across baseball. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, Josh Bell, and Jameson Taillon are the four (we won’t know officially until Law releases his top ten prospects for each team sometime next week). It speaks a lot to Neal Huntington and the front office that the Pirates continue to have a strong system while also remaining competitive at the major league level. Unfortunately, Law ranks the Cubs ahead of the Pirates at number four, and another NL competitor in the Dodgers at number two. The Braves (1), Twins (3), Brewers (5), and Phillies (6) are also ranked ahead of the Pirates, but those four clubs don’t pose a threat to the Pirates at the major league level for the time being.
It will be interesting to see where the Pirates fall in various mid-season rankings and post-season rankings for their farm system once Glasnow, Bell, Taillon, and possibly Alen Hanson all graduate to the majors. The major league club should certainly be better for it, but the team’s depth in the minors may take a short-term hit.
We’ll be sure to break down Law’s top ten prospects for the Pirates and (if he releases it) his top 100 overall prospects as well.
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