Keith Law post his rankings of the farm systems today on ESPN(subscription required), one day in advance of his top 100 list. He has the Pittsburgh Pirates ranked as the eighth best farm system in baseball, one spot below where they were ranked last year. He notes that they will have four players on the top 100 list tomorrow. Law credits the Pirates for maintaining a strong farm system, while also having a highly competitive Major League team and a low payroll.
It’s interesting to note that he has six National League teams ranked ahead of the Pirates, with only the Twins(#3) breaking up that group in the first eight spots. From the NL Central, he has the Cubs 4th and Brewers 5th. The Reds are ranked 12th and the Cardinals 19th.
Law doesn’t say much about each team, but he thinks that the Pirates could have 6-7 players in the top 100 next year. That would seem like the best case scenario, as Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, Josh Bell, Alen Hanson and Elias Diaz could all lose their prospect status this season.
There could be a surprise or two on his top 100 list tomorrow, as Law has always been very high on Kevin Newman. He also ranked Harold Ramirez ahead of Josh Bell last July, so it’s far from certain that his top 100 will include the usual suspects. I expect both Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows to be ranked high, but the final two Pirates probably won’t be both Bell and Taillon.
