Baseball America released their annual organization rankings

[Thrylos]

Based on prospects and "overall minor league talent". Results here. (free article.)

 

The Twins are ranked a disappointing 10th. Methodology not published other than a statement saying that "the rankings are a product of BA’s editors."

[Mr. Brooks]

Based on prospects and "overall minor league talent". Results here. (free article.)

 

The Twins are ranked a disappointing 10th. Methodology not published other than a statement saying that "the rankings are a product of BA’s editors."

 

I think it's probably because so much of our top talent is so far away, and the further away a prospect is from the majors, the higher his expected bust rate is.

Among the teams above us:

 

1)Cards: Can't argue with this no matter how the rankings are compiled. IMO, the Cards have better talent, AND a really nice balance of MLB ready vs. raw talent.

Shelby Miller should be a solid #2/fringe #1 (I'd call him a rich man's Kyle Gibson), and will be in the rotation this year, Oscar Taveras is going to be a stud, and even though it's crowded, they will find room for him by June or so. They call Carlos Martinez "little Pedro" for a reason. I can't wait to see if he pans out or not, because he'll be fun to watch if he does. Trevor Rosenthal will be starting the year in BP, but thats only because they don't have room for him in the rotation. I think he has better stuff than Miller, he just needs his changeup to come along a little bit. Kolten Wong is the complete package, and should be playing 2B by August. Matt Adams would probably be up now if there were room for him. Then you have some more raw talent in Jenkins and Wacha. Man they are loaded.

 

2) M's: I can see why they are ranked high, although I think personally I like the talent in our system a little better.

But what the M's do have is a whole bunch of mlb ready or near mlb ready pitching.

Walker, Hultzen, Paxton, Pryor, Capps.

Then they have some nice up the middle prospects to in Zunino, Franklin and Miller.( And Franklin will be up this year at some point.)

 

3) Rangers: Our system has more depth, but its hard to argue here, just because of the mlb ready talent the Rangers have at the top.

Profar is the #1 prospect in baseball, and he's ready now. So is Olt. The problem is they don't really have a spot for either of them. After these 2 the Rangers have about 5 or 6 really intriguing, raw prospects.

 

4) Rays: Here is where I start to question a little bit. Yes they have Myers, but I have my doubts about whether he should be ranked as high as he is. I'm not sure he can carry that K rate into the majors and have the same success. Behind him they have a few mlb ready, or close pitchers, but none who really have front of the rotation stuff (except maybe Archer).

Overall though, I'd take our top 12 over their top 12 and wouldnt think twice about it.

 

5) Marlins: I can't really argue here, though I'd say it's pretty dang close to a toss up with ours. What they do have though is really nice balance.

Front of the rotation ace? Check (Jose Fernandez)

Potential .300/20/20 CF'er? Check (Yelich)

5 tool'er with the range to play CF, the arm to play RF if needed, and the bat to play anywhere? Check (Marisnick)

A couple of mid rotation lefty starters who should move really quickly through the minors? Check (Nicolino and Heaney)

A SS who could win a whole shelf full of gold gloves? Check (Hechevarria)

 

6) Red Sox: No way. This is bogus ranking, IMO, and is driven by 1 elite prospect (Bogaerts) and a couple more really good prospects (Bradley and Barnes).

The rest of their system is nothing special, IMO, and belongs near the top half of the middle of the pack (13th, 14th range).

Although, the elite guy that they have is REALLY f'ing good. This Bogaerts kid can really hit, wow.

 

7) Pirates: Okay, this is where they lose me. I kinda was thinking that MLB close was weighted really heavy, but aside from Gerrit Cole, all the best prospects in the Pirates system are not that close, and they are not as good as ours.

I mean, I like Taillon, Hanson, Polanco, and Bell, but I don't think they are ahead of Sano, Buxton, Hicks, Arcia and Meyer.

 

8) Dbacks: The Dbacks are loaded with a bunch of MLB ready pitching talent. So much of it in fact, that they didn't mind trading Bauer away. They also have some nice bats in the system too, in Gregorious, Davidson, and Eaton. But I'm not putting them ahead of us. Skaggs and Bradley are really nice arms, but Bradley is a long ways away from the majors, and I like our top 10 way more than I like theirs.

 

9) I won't argue this, and I would move the Astros up past a few of these teams.

I'm really high on Singleton, Correa, Springer, and Cosart. The Astros have some really nice pieces in place.

[cmb0252]

At the top there are plenty of great systems with great arguments to be top 5 but I can't see how BA puts the Twins 10. They have two, on their spec list, in the top 10! No other team has that. Also, while a lot of their talent is in the lower levels they have Hicks, Gibson, and Arcia in their top100 who will help this year. I just don't get it.

[glunn]

I am happy to read that the Tigers ranked #27 and the White Sox #29. That may bode well for 2015 and after.

[beckmt]

Interesting. It may have been caused by the two upper level clubs have been stocked with fillers for the most part and not prospects. If you take that the Twins have 6 of the top 100 prospects, than this ranking is a mystery. The Twins also have probably 5-6 more that would in the top 200-250. And who cares about filler.

[James]

I am happy to read that the Tigers ranked #27 and the White Sox #29. That may bode well for 2015 and after.

And KC and Cleveland are #18 and #20, respectively. This also bodes very well for 2015+.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Are these org rankings or farm rankings? That does make a big difference.

[Mr. Brooks]

Are these org rankings or farm rankings? That does make a big difference.

 

Its based on anyone/everyone with less than 130 AB's or 50 IP's in the mlb.