2015 Minor League System Rankings
Mar 28, 2015 23:40:23 GMT -8
Nationals GM (Preston - Old), Rangers GM (Victor), and 3 more like this
Post by Rockies GM (Dan) on Mar 28, 2015 23:40:23 GMT -8
Because I have been building my team through my minor league system, each year when Matt releases his rankings, I always find a lot of fun in them, but each year I think "I should do my own rankings!" So this year, I actually did.
Now, I wanted to do a comprehensive look at each team's minor league system from top to bottom. With over 500 minor league players rostered, I had to rely on someone else's expertise for grades. So I used John Sickels' grades for two reasons: 1) they're great (and free!), and 2) being done in a letter grade system allows me to take the data and take my own biases out of the equation.
So, in my spreadsheet (found here: Dan's Prospect Spreadsheet) I compiled each grade from Sickels' lists I could find and assigned them a numerical grade based on the four-point GPA system. After doing that, I used a formula which weighted a team's top prospects heavily, while also accounting for the middle grouping and the depth of a system. The results look like a college GPA, and I'm not sure I agree with every single ranking, but I wanted to remove my own subjectivity, so here are the rankings:
1) Kansas City Royals - 3.352
2) Colorado Rockies - 3.302
3) Toronto Blue Jays - 3.22
4) San Francisco Giants - 3.075
5) Pittsburgh Pirates - 3.064
6) New York Yankees - 3.006
7) Milwaukee Brewers - 2.936
8) Cleveland Indians - 2.935
9) Boston Red Sox - 2.922
10) Philadelphia Phillies - 2.909
11) Washington Nationals - 2.882
12) Arizona Diamondbacks - 2.86
13) San Diego Padres - 2.852
14) Seattle Mariners - 2.842
15) Tampa Rays 2.841
16) Cincinnati Reds 2.7945
17) Detroit Tigers 2.773
18) New York Mets 2.711*
19) Atlanta Braves 2.677
20) Baltimore Orioles 2.65
21) Texas Rangers 2.629
22) St. Louis Cardinals 2.606
23) Houston Astros 2.602
24) Minnesota Twins 2.579
25) Los Angeles Angels 2.574
26) Oakland Athletics 2.521
27) Chicago Cubs 2.509
28) Miami Marlins 2.466
29) Los Angeles Dodgers 2.434
30) Chicago White Sox 2.346
Some thoughts:
1) There's a * next to the Mets because they broke my system, and their score is calculated with a different algorithm. The algorithm for everyone else looks at the top 5, then 5-10 and then the depth after that. The Mets only had 10 players with grades from Sickels, so I had to take that into account when making that grade.
2) The Royals have a great farm system, no doubt about that, but they were buoyed to the top by their incredible depth. Personally, I'd take the Blue Jays and my own top 5 prospects over the Royals'. I'd probably put them 2nd or 3rd overall if I wasn't following a formula. So what do you think? Is this formula maybe weighted too heavily in favor of depth?
3) When making my individual team prospect rankings, I generally tried to follow Sickels' grades, while making my own decisions about rankings, but there were a few cases where either things had changed (i.e. Luis Torrens' season-ending injury) or where I disagreed with a grade, and in these cases, I ranked a player with a lesser grade above those with higher grades.
4) Some big risers from Matt's list last year to this one - the Rays and the Braves had the first and second biggest jump, respectively. The Rays moved up from 27 to 15, and the Braves moved from dead last to 19. The Royals had the most impressive jump, going from 11 to number 1. The Reds moved up nine, and the Brewers and Red Sox rose eight spots, both cracking the top ten.
5) The biggest faller was the Twins who fell 15 spots from 9 to 24. The Angels fell 11 spots and the White Sox and Mets both fell 10.
Now, I wanted to do a comprehensive look at each team's minor league system from top to bottom. With over 500 minor league players rostered, I had to rely on someone else's expertise for grades. So I used John Sickels' grades for two reasons: 1) they're great (and free!), and 2) being done in a letter grade system allows me to take the data and take my own biases out of the equation.
So, in my spreadsheet (found here: Dan's Prospect Spreadsheet) I compiled each grade from Sickels' lists I could find and assigned them a numerical grade based on the four-point GPA system. After doing that, I used a formula which weighted a team's top prospects heavily, while also accounting for the middle grouping and the depth of a system. The results look like a college GPA, and I'm not sure I agree with every single ranking, but I wanted to remove my own subjectivity, so here are the rankings:
1) Kansas City Royals - 3.352
2) Colorado Rockies - 3.302
3) Toronto Blue Jays - 3.22
4) San Francisco Giants - 3.075
5) Pittsburgh Pirates - 3.064
6) New York Yankees - 3.006
7) Milwaukee Brewers - 2.936
8) Cleveland Indians - 2.935
9) Boston Red Sox - 2.922
10) Philadelphia Phillies - 2.909
11) Washington Nationals - 2.882
12) Arizona Diamondbacks - 2.86
13) San Diego Padres - 2.852
14) Seattle Mariners - 2.842
15) Tampa Rays 2.841
16) Cincinnati Reds 2.7945
17) Detroit Tigers 2.773
18) New York Mets 2.711*
19) Atlanta Braves 2.677
20) Baltimore Orioles 2.65
21) Texas Rangers 2.629
22) St. Louis Cardinals 2.606
23) Houston Astros 2.602
24) Minnesota Twins 2.579
25) Los Angeles Angels 2.574
26) Oakland Athletics 2.521
27) Chicago Cubs 2.509
28) Miami Marlins 2.466
29) Los Angeles Dodgers 2.434
30) Chicago White Sox 2.346
Some thoughts:
1) There's a * next to the Mets because they broke my system, and their score is calculated with a different algorithm. The algorithm for everyone else looks at the top 5, then 5-10 and then the depth after that. The Mets only had 10 players with grades from Sickels, so I had to take that into account when making that grade.
2) The Royals have a great farm system, no doubt about that, but they were buoyed to the top by their incredible depth. Personally, I'd take the Blue Jays and my own top 5 prospects over the Royals'. I'd probably put them 2nd or 3rd overall if I wasn't following a formula. So what do you think? Is this formula maybe weighted too heavily in favor of depth?
3) When making my individual team prospect rankings, I generally tried to follow Sickels' grades, while making my own decisions about rankings, but there were a few cases where either things had changed (i.e. Luis Torrens' season-ending injury) or where I disagreed with a grade, and in these cases, I ranked a player with a lesser grade above those with higher grades.
4) Some big risers from Matt's list last year to this one - the Rays and the Braves had the first and second biggest jump, respectively. The Rays moved up from 27 to 15, and the Braves moved from dead last to 19. The Royals had the most impressive jump, going from 11 to number 1. The Reds moved up nine, and the Brewers and Red Sox rose eight spots, both cracking the top ten.
5) The biggest faller was the Twins who fell 15 spots from 9 to 24. The Angels fell 11 spots and the White Sox and Mets both fell 10.
