MLB Farm System Rankings For Every Team In The 21st Century
Image credit: Kris Bryant (Photo by Tom DiPace)
We recently rolled out our 2024 Organizational Talent Rankings. But if that left you wanting a little more, here’s a look at where each organization ranked for every year in the 21st century. You can see where we viewed each organization’s talent as top tier and where it was below par in our eyes.
These are our contemporaneous rankings, so it’s also a way for us to show our work. We can’t promise that we will get every ranking right 100% of the time, but we do believe this shows that in general, these rankings have predictive value.
Arizona Diamondbacks
The D-backs peak in the 21st century as far as talent rankings came in the 2006-2007 range when Justin Upton, Stephen Drew, Carlos Gonzalez, Miguel Montero, Chris Young and Mark Reynolds were coming up. Right behind that was the 2023 D-backs’ farm system. Led by Corbin Carroll, those youngsters helped the D-backs make a surprise run to the World Series.
Atlanta Braves
That 2016-2020 stretch at the top of the farm system rankings is a massive reason why the Braves have led the NL East for six straight seasons. The Dansby Swanson/Ozzie Albies led 2017 Top 30 was exceptionally impressive but even after those two graduated, the 2018 Top 30 was led by Ronald Acuna, Austin Riley, Max Fried and many more.
Baltimore Orioles
Yes Orioles fans, you are clearly living in a much better time to be an Orioles fan. The last time the Orioles farm system was this loaded would have been before Baseball America got its start in 1981.
Boston Red Sox
These peaks are impressive, and the troughs are also significant. That 2014 Red Sox system included Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Christian Vasquez, Manuel Margot, Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr.
Chicago Cubs
The seeds of the Cubs’ World Series title can be seen in that quick rise to No. 1 in the 2015 farm system talent rankings. Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler, Addison Russell, Gleyber Torres, Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease and many others produced the core of a World Series champion as well as the trade chips to bolster the big league roster. But the system quickly fell off a cliff after that.
Chicago White Sox
In general, the White Sox have sat in the bottom half to the bottom third of the farm system talent rankings this century. The Eloy Jimenez, Michael Kopech, Luis Robert, Dylan Cease group pushed the 2018 White Sox to the top of the rankings, and that group did go to the playoffs in 2020 and 2021 with a 93-win season in 2021, but the team quickly fell back.
Cincinnati Reds
The failure of the early 2010s Reds to win a playoff series makes it easy to forget just how impressive the 2008-era Reds farm system was. The Reds’ Top 10 that year was a cavalcade of big league regulars and stars: Jay Bruce, Homer Bailey, Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto, Drew Stubbs, Devin Mesoraco and Todd Frazier ranked 1-to-7 that year. Justin Turner (No. 29) needed a few more years before he blossomed.
Cleveland Guardians
We may have underrated the Guardians ability to churn out pitcher after pitcher in the 2018-2021 range, but the system has been a solid middle to upper tier one for much of the past five years.
Colorado Rockies
The Rockies face a lot of challenges competing in a very competitive NL West led by a juggernaut in the Dodgers. But the team’s struggle to string together a prospect core that can excel together in recent years makes it even tougher.
Detroit Tigers
The Tigers graduated an impressive wave of pitchers along with a few bats in 2021-2022. The 2024 system should produce a whole lot of hitters to go with that group, giving Detroit some long-awaited reason for optimism.
Houston Astros
When Jeff Luhnow’s group took over the Astros, the farm system was extremely thin. But Jose Altuve and George Springer were excellent building blocks, and the arrival of Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez and a home-grown starting staff over the rest of the 2010s helped keep Houston in contention for nearly a decade.
Kansas City Royals
The Big Blue Wave of 2011 and 2012 led to the Royals’ best seasons in a generation and a World Series title in 2015. The No. 1 ranked 2011 farm system included Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Wil Myers, Salvador Perez, Danny Duffy, Yordano Ventura, Kelvin Herrera and Jarrod Dyson.
Los Angeles Angels
If you want an explanation for how a team with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani could have no playoff success, take a good look at this chart.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Teams normally have a farm system life cycle. If a club climbs to the top of the rankings, that group graduates, and further prospects are traded to help the big league club fill holes. See the Cubs 2015-2018 timeframe for an example of that. But the Dodgers are not like other clubs. They are able to keep producing productive prospect after prospect even while picking at the back of the draft most every year.
Miami Marlins
The Marlins have had some peaks over the 21st century. That 2013 highly-ranked farm system included Jose Fernandez, Christian Yelich, Marcel Ozuna, J.T. Realmuto and Andrew Heaney. But sustaining success (and the farm system) has been a challenge.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers had a farm system to envy in the 2003-2006 range, and Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy, Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart did turn into franchise cornerstones. The Brewers’ ability to produce breakout pitchers means our rankings were too low on them for a stretch in the late 2010s, but this current system is extremely highly rated.
Minnesota Twins
Minnesota has had a strong of solid farm systems over the year, but with very few exceptional peaks. It fits for a team that has had plenty of solid success but few exceptional seasons in the 21st century.
New York Mets
If the Mets are retrenching a little at the big league level, the farm system does seem to be positioned to provide a boost with a young core led by Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty and Jett Williams.
New York Yankees
There are plenty of success stories from that highly rated 2017-2018 peak of the Yankees’ talent rankings in the 21st century. Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and Jordan Montgomery become solid players or stars, but Yankees fans will also remember the struggles of Clint Frazier, Blake Rutherford and others from that same group.
Oakland Athletics
The A’s have long been a team that figures out ways to succeed despite low payrolls. But in recent years, the struggles of the farm system combined with the dismantling of the big league club has made that tougher and tougher.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies have never jumped into the top five over the 21st century, but Philadephia has often hovered in the middle of the pack.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh’s 2013-2014 peak did produce Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow and Josh Bell, but many of the best players from that group have done some of their best work for other teams.
San Diego Padres
That 2019 No. 1 farm system was led by Fernando Tatis Jr., but it’s notable how many of those prospects ended up being traded to other organizations including MacKenzie Gore, Francisco Mejia, Chris Paddack, Logan Allen, Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill and Ty France.
San Francisco Giants
The Giants general had a bottom-third farm system, but wow, what a peak in the 2009-2010 timeframe. Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey and Sergio Romo headlined that 2009 Top 10 and Zack Wheeler joined in 2010 before he was shipped off in a trade.
Seattle Mariners
We’ll see how far that 2020-2022 farm system peak goes in the postseason, but the Julio Rodriguez, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Cal Raleigh group has given Seattle an excellent foundation.
St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis has been a relatively model organization when it comes to player development, especially in its ability to improve prospects’ defensive ability.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays have been near the top of the farm system ranking more often than not in the 21st century, which explains how a team with a bottom-of-baseball payroll can find perennial success.
Texas Rangers
The Rangers’ paths to the World Series are tied closely to those farm system peaks at the end of the 2000s and now in the middle of the 2020s.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Danny Jansen and Lourdes Gurriel core has driven the Blue Jays into the thick of the AL East race, but will Toronto have the remaining talent to keep up in the most competitive division in baseball?
Washington Nationals
The Nationals have finished at the bottom of the rankings on four occasions, but recent top picks have helped push them to a significant improvement in recent years.
