Keith Law has ranked the Pittsburgh Pirates’ system fourth overall in his latest system rankings for ESPN.
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league system is no stranger to praise.
More came today, as noted prospect watcher Keith Law ranked the Pirates’ system fourth overall in MLB.
System Moves from 8th to 4th
Having been ranked eighth by Law going into the 2016 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system jumps up four spots in Law’s latest rankings, available here to ESPN Insiders.
In describing the ranking, Law cites the system’s continuity year-over-year as well as emerging project-able arms.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”Keith Law” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The Pirates return their top five prospects from last year, three of whom really boosted their stock and the likelihood of reaching their ceilings, and they added another premium guy to the mix with the emergence of 2014 draft pick Mitch Keller, an Iowa high school product who improved in every possible way in 2016.[/perfectpullquote]The Atlanta Braves ranked first in Law’s 2017 rankings on the backs of spending the last two years hoarding prospects. The Braves also took the top spot in Law’s rankings in 2016.
Looking at the rest of Law’s Top Five, the Yankees and Padres come in second and third respectively. New York’s ability to re-shape its system seemingly on the fly was rewarded with an 11-spot jump from ranking 13th in 2016. Trading Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman for Clint Frazier and other top prospects surely helped their cause.
The Padres took the biggest jump, landing 17 spots higher from their ranking of 20th in 2016. The top five were rounded out by the Los Angeles Dodgers at the fifth spot.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Arizona Diamondbacks pull up the rear with the 30th ranked farm system.
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