Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com picked his top farm system today, and went with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In another article, Mayo’s MLB.com colleague, Jim Callis, went with the Houston Astros.
Mayo explains that he went with the Pirates because of their combination of impact talent and depth. He pointed out that they could have eight top 100 prospects, and that the rest of the guys in the top 20 leave something to like, even if they aren’t guaranteed to make the majors.
Mayo has been ranking prospects for some time, and pointed out the difference between this year’s team and previous teams. He said that in previous years teams, it was hard finding 20, or even 10 prospects to list. This year he points out that Brandon Cumpton and Andrew Lambo were left off the top 20 after making their big league debuts, which wouldn’t have happened a few years ago. He also notes that those two would have been on nearly any other organization’s top 20, showing the depth the Pirates have.
