ESPN has released its post-MLB trade deadline farm system rankings. And they remain high on the locals.
The Mets and Yankees both have top-10 farm systems, according to the rankings. And their lofty spots come with some interesting takeaways.
Mets. The Amazins’ farm system is ranked No. 5. The bulk of that ranking is due to prized catching prospect Francisco Alvarez. ESPN believes he is the best minor leaguer in baseball. That said, he is not the only promising young player they have.
It’s important to note that the very top prospects in baseball are valued at what seems on its face to be a wild amount of money, but the track record justifies it. Francisco Alvarez is now the top prospect in the game at a value of $112 million and if he were to graduate from prospect status tomorrow, the Mets would fall from fifth to 21st.
With a solid draft class (C Kevin Parada, SS Jett Williams, RHP Blade Tidwell, 2B Nick Morabito), no notable graduations, no big trades that sent prospects out (call it the Pete Crow-Armstrong cooling effect), and Alvarez moving from ninth to first (appreciating $57 million in the process) in the Top 100, that makes a solid recipe for an appreciating farm system. OF Alex Ramirez is the other notable riser.
Yankees. The Bronx Bombers are ranked eighth. Which is pretty notable. They did not deal away top guys like shortstop Anthony Volpe. But they were still pretty active at the deadline and moved a bunch of prospects. Yet their system has more or less maintained its preseason strength, according to the rankings.
The Yankees have also been very busy, sending out a number of 40-FV-or-better prospects via trade (deep breath): LHP Ken Waldichuk, RHP Luis Medina, RHP Hayden Wesneski, 2B Cooper Bowman, RHP Beck Way, LHP J.P. Sears, RHP Chandler Champlain and LHP T.J. Sikkema. They added one more of that type in RHP Clayton Beeter as the return for Joey Gallo after sending out (less deep breath) 2B Josh Smith, 3B Ezequiel Duran, 2B Trevor Hauver and RHP Glenn Otto for Gallo last year.
Big ups to the Yankees drafting in recent years; all of those players were from outside of the top 50 overall picks and some were outside of the top five rounds. You don’t always have to wait for years and produce big leaguers to find value from a draft.
The full rankings can be found here.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com
