Fangraphs and ESPN each released updated farm system rankings and the Pittsburgh Pirates do well in each one.
On ESPN, the rankings are part of their draft coverage, but they were updated this week according to Kiley McDaniel. They have the Pirates rated as the fifth best farm system in baseball, trailing Cleveland, Baltimore and the New York Yankees.
On Fangraphs, the Pirates rank second overall, but they could be moving into first place soon. The Tampa Bay Rays are currently in first, but their top prospect will soon graduate from the list. Shane Baz has a 5.00 ERA in six starts this year, in addition to some time from last year. He’s nearing the 50-inning limit (needs 10.0 more), though he might pass the service time maximum before that happens. When he does, then the Pirates will move into first place. However, that will be short-lived because Oneil Cruz needs just 47 at-bats to lose his prospect status.
So for now, the Pirates do well, but they will move down (after moving up) soon. That obviously doesn’t take into account how the draft and trading deadline could help the system.
If you missed it, Baseball America updated their top 100 prospects yesterday (that link also includes the recent MLB Pipeline update).
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
I am still curious to see who will ascend as guys like roansy and cruz graduate. I am surprised that burrows isnt up there yet, and i would think bubba and solo could be risers as well
Baz should reach service time limit I believe tomorrow
Shane Baz. Another one we gave away
Only got in 2.1 innings his last last start. Welcome to Great American Ball Park Mr. Baz
I was about to say, “Actually, Josh Lowe graduated yesterday”, but that’d only drop the Rays to $310M value and still ahead of Pirates.
I am not fond of this game. The real questions are ‘Are there a couple of MLB players in the system?’ And, ‘Might one of them be an impact player?’ The answer to the first question is clearly ‘Yes.’ The second, I’ll need to listen to oth
others.
How do you edit in this system?
It just sits there on the bottom right on mobile. I would be speaking gibberish half the time without that thing since I am usually talking and letting it translate or using the swipe technique on the keypad and it sometimes get the word completely wrong.
Yeah, the little gear. But if you’re not quick enough, it’s set in stone lol
Let’s take as a given I am not quick enough. I could provide evidence from baseball, basketball, dating, tennis, and wrestling.
But thanks.
hover over the bottom right hand corner of the comment box and a little symbol should pop up.