2013 Farm System Rankings

[Guardians GM (Matt)]

Since Fred is putting out Power Rankings I thought I would do what I like to do best which is look at minor league orgs. I have included my Top 5 for that system as well as a sleeper (these are my personal opinions). Other notes about how I approached this.

- Not all great prospects are great fantasy prospects, because defense is irrelevant
- I undervalue relievers even if saves and holds are categories because it is a bit of a crap shoot until they make the majors
- Stars are much more important than depth, a cost controlled star is the most valuable thing you can have, especially in a league with franchise tags
- Cost of minor league contracts is irrelevant, whether you pay 500k or 2mil for a guy is not taken into account
- Proximity is nice but a prospects value is not necessarily what he can give your team next year, but what he can be traded for

1. Colorado Rockies:
1. Gerritt Cole
2. Wil Myers
3. Xander Bogarts
4. Carlos Correa
5. Jonathan Singleton
Sleeper: Trevor Story

2. Philadelphia Phillies:
1. Dylan Bundy
2. Zach Wheeler
3. Miguel Sano
4. Javier Baez
5. Anthony Rendon
Sleeper: Rio Ruiz

3. Pittsburgh Pirates:
1. Jameson Tallion
2. Jorge Soler
3. Archie Bradley
4. Kyle Gibson
5. Yordano Ventura
Sleeper: Marcell Ozuna

4. Seattle Mariners:
1. Billy Hamilton
2. Mike Zunino
3. Alen Hanson
4. Taylor Guerrieri
5. Rymer Liriano
Sleeper: Joe Ross

5. Washington Nationals:
1. Oscar Tavares
2. Casey Kelly
3. Lance McCullers Jr
4. Barrett Barnes
5. Cheslor Cuthbert
Sleeper: Ronald Guzman

6. New York Yankees:
1. Christian Yelich
2. Noah Syndergaard
3. Trevor Rosenthal
4. Jake Marisnick
5. Michael Wacha
Sleeper: Andrew Chafin

7. Baltimore Orioles:
1. Jurickson Profar
2. Mike Olt
3. Jake Odorizzi
4. Martin Perez
5. Austin Hedges
Sleeper: Nick Kingham

8. Minnesota Twins:
1. Kyle Zimmer
2. Travis D'Arnaud
3. Aaron Hicks
4. Delino DeShields Jr
5. Justin Nicolino
Sleeper: Tommy Joseph

9. Milwaukee Brewers:
1. Addison Russell
2. Luis Heredia
3. Alex Meyer
4. Henry Owens
5. Ethan Martin
Sleeper: Tyler Thornburg

10. St. Louis Cardinals:
1. Shelby Miller
2. Danny Hultzen
3. Andrew Heaney
4. James Ramsey
5. Taylor Lindsey
Sleeper: Stephen Piscoty

11. Atlanta Braves:
1. Taijaun Walker
2. Albert Almora
3. Carlos Martinez
4. Matt Smoral
5. Mike Folyniewicz
Sleeper: Anthony Alford

12. Detroit Tigers:
1. Francisco Linor
2. Max Fried
3. Mason Williams
4. Arodys Vizcaino
5. AJ Cole
Sleeper: Tyler Anderson

13. Chicago Cubs:
1. Kevin Gausman
2. Oswalda Arcia
3. Jesse Biddle
4. Michael Choice
5. Luis Sardinas
Sleeper: Jeurys Familia

14. Kansas City Royals:
1. Jose Fernandez
2. Tyler Skaggs
3. Jorge Alfaro
4. Jairo Beras
5. Ty Hensley
Sleeper: Rougned Odor

15. New York Mets:
1. Byron Buxton
2. Trevor Bauer
3. Rob Brantley
4. Nick Travieso
5. Kevin Matthews
Sleeper: Tyrone Taylor

16. Boston Red Sox:
1. Matt Barnes
2. Tony Cingrani
3. Richie Schaffer
4. Sean Gilmartin
5. Didi Gregorious
Sleeper: Daniel Robertson

17. Toronto Blue Jays:
1. David Dahl
2. Slade Heathcott
3. Joc Pederson
4. Renato Nunez
5. Mark Montgomery
Sleeper: Nick Delmonico

18. Cleveland Indians:
1. Christian Bethancourt
2. Lewis Brinson
3. Adam Morgan
4. Matt Wisler
5. Maikel Franco
Sleeper: Shane Watson

19. Houston Astros:
1. Julio Tehran
2. Jedd Gyorko
3. Hyun Jin Ryu
4. Adam Conley
5. Darin Ruf
Sleeper: Chris Reed

20. Arizona Diamondbacks:
1. Jackie Bradley
2. Lucas Sims
3. Travis Jankowski
4. Phillipe Aumont
5. Matt Purke
Sleeper: Cito Culver

21. Chicago White Sox:
1. Lucas Giolito
2. Luiz Gohara
3. Carter Caps
4. Rafael De Paula
5. Clayton Blackburn
Sleeper: Julio Morban

22. Texas Rangers:
1. Adam Eaton
2. Joey Gallo
3. Dilson Herrerra
4. Kyle Lotzker
5. Corey Black
Sleeper: Noaln Fontana

23. Oakland Athletics:
1. Courtney Hawkins
2. Brett Jackson
3. Gary Brown
4. Tyler Naquin
5. Jake Hager
Sleeper: Nolan Sanburn

24. Los Angeles Angels:
1. Adelberto Mondesi
2. Corey Seager
3. Jorge Bonifacio
4. Christian Colon
5. C.J. Edwards
Sleeper: Miguel Almonte

25. Miami Marlins:
1. Brian Goodwin
2. Gavin Cecchini
3. Nomar Mazara
4. Tony Sanchez
5. Tyler Goeddel
Sleeper: Zach Eflin

26. San Diego Padres:
1. Avisail Garcia
2. Willy Peralta
3. Brad Peacock
4. Marcus Stroman
5. Kolton Wong
Sleeper: Alex Wood

27. San Fransisco Giants:
1. Robert Stephenson
2. DJ Davis
3. Devin Marrero
4. CJ Cron
5. Max Kepler
Sleeper: Kevin Plawecki


28. Los Angeles Dodgers:
1. Roman Quinn
2. Dan Vogelbach
3. Chris Stratton
4. Luigi Rodriguez
5. Jake Thompson
Sleeper: Larry Greene

29. Cincinatti Reds:
1. Josh Bell
2. Jesse Winker
3. Stryker Trahan
4. Ronny Rodriguez
5. Leury Garci
Sleeper: Austin Romine

30.Tampa Bay Rays:
1. Brian Johnson
2. Tyler Matzek
3. Carson Kelly
4. Angelo Gumbs
5. Max Stassi
Sleeper: Ty Buttrey

[Deleted]

Awesome stuff matt thanks for taking the time to do this. I lack the top end guy after Profar but am proud of the depth I have developed.

[Former Angels GM (Mike C.)]

should label this "2013" so teams can look back a year to 5 years to see how well you do? Just a thought.

absolutely great, love it more than you know.

[Rockies GM (Dan)]

You're awesome for doing this. I wanted to do something similar, but never found the time to go through all 30 teams.

Thanks for ranking me first, I really like the Phillies farm system too, and I could make cases for both being #1 in terms of high-impact talent.

I have my guys in a slightly different order, so here's my top 10, with grades by John Sickels:

1) Xander Bogaerts - A
2) Wil Myers - A
3) Gerritt Cole - A
4) Carlos Correa - A-
5) Aaron Sanchez - B+/A-
6) Nick Castellanos - B+
7) Jonathan Singleton - B+
8) Chris Archer - B+
9) Trevor Story - B+/A-
10) Nolan Arenado - B+

And, while its a minor quibble, I wouldn't count Story as a sleeper, given that he's almost a universal top-100 prospect (I have 19 prospects that appear on a major analyst's top 100).

Out of the guys who don't appear on top-100 lists, I'd say my sleepers are (in no particular order): Clint Coulter, Luke Jackson, Walker Weickel, Dillon Maples and Daniel Norris

[Rangers GM (Victor)]

Blah.. I would think my system would be closer to middle of the pack.. injury to Eaton does hurt, but to rank in lower half is a bit disappointing, imo. Eh, time will tell and its hard to keep up an elite Major league roster without moving a top prospect or two, so overall not overly disappointed.

Cant wait to see if someone does a ranking of the teams themselves overall, not just per division. Great work by all who have done these so far as they do take time if you plan on doing it one by one.

[Cubs GM (Beau)]

One year later and this list is looking spot on. You keeping up the tradition Matt?

[Guardians GM (Matt)]

I plan on doing it this week if I have time. Minor league free agency can shift the rankings enough that I wanted to wait until it was over.