Minor League Rankings

By Synocco, Blue Jays

Preface

I have conducted a study of each of the 30 teams, in attempt to evaluate the quality of each franchise's minor league system. I have tried to use some objective measures, but I won't pretend that this analysis is either scientific or accurate. Having said that, I have tried my best to account for as many factors as I could, including total number of prospects, total number of top prospects, age, position, and other criteria.

In order to have an objective basis for evaluating each team, I decided to first count the number of prospects in each system. This was not a trivia matter since the definition of a prospect varies from manager to manager. In the end I settled on the some rather loose definitions:

Hitting Prospect:

4 stars in AVG

Under 26 years of age

Pitching Prospect:

9 more more total stars

Fastball rating over 350

Under 26 years of age

This definition is not perfect since there are many good prospects 26 and over. There are also many prospects with good star ratings, but have maxed out as duds before the age of 26. In addition, a pitcher with a 499 fastball is clearly superior to a pitcher with a 350 fastball, given that everything else is equal. However, this definition allowed for an easy tabulation of total numbers which served as my starting point. In analyzing the minor league systems I took into consideration all the factors not accounted for in the "prospect count." In fact, the ratings that I assigned, and ultimately the final rankings, are only loosely based on the number of prospects. I have included the counts simply because they are easily digestible and may be meaningful to some people.

Please keep in mind that this is not an evaluation of everyone's franchise as a whole, just the minor leagues. Some teams have shoddy minors, but can afford to do so because of young major league squads. The converse is also true.

Ranking

Rank	Team	# Hitting Prospects	# Pitching Prospects	Hitting Rating	Pitching Rating	Commentary
1.	Houston	29	14	A	A-	The minor leagues boast a plethora of northern leaguers in the 24-26 age range; some are sure to develop into stars. The team has spent heavily on nothern leaguers and should reap the rewards in 4-5 seasons
2.	Cleveland	17	8	A	A-	This team is in a state of constant upheaval with major leaguers often being cut wholesale. As a consequence, several top prospects are playing in the major leagues well before they should be. Nevertheless, this is one of the teams richest in talent, having spent generously on the Northern Leagues in recent years. Peter Decker is the most recently acquired star prospect.
3.	Chicago (N)	21	6	A-	A-	There aren't very many blue-chip hitting prospects in this system, but there are a lot of solid ones. The total number of pitchers in the minor leagues is low, but Houser and Fallon are two elite pitching prospects.
4.	Pittsburgh	26	16	A-	A-	The system only has holds one 4/4 hitter, but the sheer quantity should lead to some gems down the road. Many of the arms are former Northern Leaguers, and age might be an issue with some of the prospects. As a whole, the minor league system is similar to Houston in terms of depth and quality.
5.	Arizona	18	10	A-	A-	This team features a lot of good-looking young talent, especially at A-ball. This will be a team to be reckoned with in 4-5 seasons.
6.	Los Angeles	14	12	B	A	Most of the hitting talent is in AAA, and there is a severe lack of depth in lower levels. Rafael Henry might be the best pitching prospect in the league, and is surrounded by a solid supporting cast.
7.	Cincinnati	18	7	A	B-	There is lots of depth in hitting with many potential stars. The system's pitching ranks has thinned with prominent promotions to the big leagues in recent years, but still has enviable talent at the upper levels.
8.	Texas	19	7	B+	B+	The hitting is deep, but needs a few more blue-chippers to join the ranks of the elite hitting systems. There's not much in terms of pitching beyond Jesse Hayden, but when you have Hayden you don't need much else.
9.	Chicago (A)	28	8	A-	B-	This is a farm system with a lot of potential hitting stars, but there isn't one hitters who truly stands out as a sure-thing. Starting pitcher Joe Mcdevitt is ready for the major leagues and a couple of other pitchers are not far behind him.
10.	Tampa Bay	17	11	B-	B	There is a good number of hitting prospects, but many are fairly far along in their development and do not appear project to be stars. Randy Benton is a 12-star pitching prospect who appears to be nearing the major leagues and Carroll Albanese is also close to securing a spot in a major league rotation.
11.	Detroit	26	4	A	C-	The hitting is deep in quantity and quality with tons of young 4-star AVG hitters. Even the 3-star AVG hitters are formidable as they almost all have 4-star HR ratings. Few minor leagues have such a collection of power hitting prospects. The pitching has seen better days with only 9 arms in the system after recent promotions to the bigs.
12.	Baltimore	6	12	B-	B	There aren't very many hitters under 25 here, but there are a number of prospects over 25 who have time to become impact players in the majors. Most of the pitching prospects have great fastballs, but are deficient in one pitch, so a little luck is needed.
13.	Colorado	11	10	B-	B	None of the minor league hitters stand out as future impact players, but there is decent depth. On the pitching side, there are some solid RP prospects, but there are no blue chip starting prospects.
14.	Milwaukee	12	8	B	C+	The system holds a couple of high-ceiling hitters, but suffers from an overall lack of depth. There are a few legitimate pitching prospects, but none are truly first-tier.
15.	Kansas City	17	9	B	C	A fair number of hitting prospects, but the system lacks depth and true studs. Lower control pitchers with good pitches is a trademark of the team, especially in A-ball. Ed Wheeler and Brian Howard are the gems in this system.
16.	Philadephia	26	4	A	D+	This team's minors feature many young hitting studs, especially at the lower levels. Low control in many of the pitchers with high star-totals may be problematic.
17.	Anaheim	19	2	A	D+	Boasts an impressive collection of high ceiling hitting prospects with a solid supporting cast. Things aren't so rosy on the pitching side with only a few decent prospects hidden amongst a crowd of pretenders.
18.	Toronto	29	5	A	D	There are good hitting prospects abound in one of the deepest hitting crops in the league. Several 4/4 hitters are the jewels in a rich system. On the flipside of the coin, there are only 12 pitchers in the entire farm system and only a fraction of those have a realistic shot of making the majors.
19.	Atlanta	6	5	B-	C	Many of the prospets are former Northern Leaguer draft picks who have good chances to pan out. There is an evident effort to stock up on 3/4 hitters, and the team may be rewarded down the road.
20.	New York	8	4	B-	C-	A lot of Nothern League blood runs through the lower minors, and a system that was barren last season is starting to show signs of life. The recent firesale has brought in some real hitting talent, unseen in New York for some time. The fate of the pitching lies in a few key players in the 26-27 age range.
21.	San Francisco	7	12	C+	B-	A lot of hope rests upon 3-star AVG hitters with good complementary stars. Mark Shokes and Billy Corbett gives the team a couple of legitimate hitting prospects, but they need company.
22.	Florida	6	5	C	C+	This team features several pitchers who are star-rich but fastball-poor. An ambundance of young 3-star AVG hitters helps to make up somewhat for the lack of good 4-star AVG prospects.
23.	New York (N)	15	2	B+	F	There are several first-tier hitting prospects at a young age, giving a lot of promise to theminor league hitting. However, there are only 7 pitchers in team's minors, leaving the team little to rest its hopes on in terms of pitching.
24.	San Diego	7	6	C	C-	Neither the pitching or hitting talent is very deep. There are a couple of prospects, but the quantity is sorely lacking.
25.	Oakland	11	11	C	C-	The best hitting prospects are on the old side. The current major league was built by raiding the minorleagues and holes are definitely showing through. Minor league pitching is characterized by low fastballs or AAAA players.
26.	Minnesota	8	3	C+	D+	This team is all about 27 year old hitters and pitchers with poor fastball ratings. There is also a disproportionate number of 30+ players cluttering the minors.
27.	St. Louis	7	6	D	C	The cupboards are bare when it comes to hittng prospects. There are only a couple legitimate prospects and even those have few stars. The team features one good SP prospect in Derek Butters, but not much else. Both pitching and hitting suffers from an overall lack of depth.
28.	Boston	4	11	D-	C	A recent charge to contend has taken its toll on the farm system leaving little in terms of hitting. Most of the remaining hitters are in the 27-30 age group. The pitching is in somewhat better shape, with a couple of solid prospects.
29.	Montreal	8	2	D	D	There are 8 "prospects", but most of them are fringe players who probably won't make the major leagues. There are no real studs in the mix. Most of the team's pitchers seem to be in the 27-29 age bracket.
30.	Seattle	6	3	F	F	This is the worst minor league system in the league. Even the "prospects" are developed and not of major league quality. This is the only system resorting to 1-star AVG players. None of the 5 pitchers in the system have a realistic shot of making the majors.

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