We have already looked at five top 100 prospects lists this off-season. The final one we were waiting on before doing an average ranking list was Fangraphs. Their list was released on Wednesday morning. It actually goes 112 spots. They have five Pittsburgh Pirates on the list, including three in the top 40.
Fangraphs includes Future Value rankings for players. A majority of their list is players with 50 FV, which is one of the reasons it goes to 112 spots. The top 38 spots on the list are all 55 FV or higher. The Pirates have three of those 38 players, with Termarr Johnson ranked 21st, Endy Rodriguez 22nd and Henry Davis 38th. They all received 55 FV grades.
The 50 FV group includes 74 players. Among them is Luis Ortiz (ranked 77th) and Quinn Priester (ranked 108th). This is the second appearance in the top 100 for Ortiz. Priester has made two top 100s and just missed two top 100s.
This list is the fifth time that Johnson has been rated as the top prospect for the Pirates. This is his second highest placement on the list (18th is his best finish).
Rodriguez has his highest placement on this list. His previous best was only one spot lower, coming from Baseball America, who has him as the highest ranked prospect in the system.
Davis had one higher ranking on the previous five lists, coming in at 30th overall by The Athletic.
Those three players are the only Pirates to make all six lists. They were also the top three for the Pirates on all six lists.
In case you missed it, here’s the top prospects list for the Pirates from Fangraphs.
We will have an article on the average rankings soon.
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.
Using the Fangraphs values on the Top 100+
Top 10 Teams
1. Balt $246
2. Ari $239
3. Mets $206
4. Boston $194
5. Dodgers $185
6. PIT $180
7. CIN $167
8. TB $164
9. WSH $160
10. TEX $157
11 to 20
11. STL $146
12. CLE $140
13. MIL $139
14. MIA $137
15. CHC $132
16. PHI $115
17. COL $112
18. NYY $111
19. SDP $104
20. MIN $102
Bottom 10
21. DET $91
22. OAK $88
23. LAA $84
24. CHW $74
T25. HOU $62
T25. SFG $62
T25. TOR $62
28. SEA $21
T29. DET $0
T29. KC $0
Sorry T29th are ATL and KC …
DET is 21st
Thus far FG’s has completed full reports on 8 teams
Team / Top 100+ Value / Total Value / Depth
1. Balt / $246 / $325.5 / $79.5
2. LAD / $185 / $285.5 / $100.5
3. PIT / $180 / $267.5 / $87.5
4. CIN / $167 / $254 / $87*
5. TBR / $164 / $257.5 / $93.5
6. CLE / $140 / $241.5 / $101.5*
7. MIL / $139 / $215.5 / $76.5
8. CHW / $74 / $123 / $49
*the rankings have not been adjusted for the Will Benson for Justin Boyd trade
Depth is calculated as the difference between the total value and the value of the top 100+
1/
Depth of the system is OK per Fangraphs but clearly behind LAD, CLE, TBR, and CIN (plus others)
2/
Overall farm system will likely be rated 5th or 6th at the start of the season
3/
After the 2nd week of the season, the Pirates will jump over the Orioles (Gunnar) and Arizona (Corbin Carroll)
4/
Somewhere between week 4 and 6, the Pirates will jump over the Mets (Baty, Kodai Senga), Boston (Casas), and Dodgers (Miguel Vargas, Ryan Pepiot)
5/
I believe the Pirates would have the top system at that point
IMO the most underrated systems are MIL, TEX, and CIN
Always appreciate your posts, James!
Run at the top could be short-lived with Endy and Ortiz coming off themselves. Will be fun to see who steps up behind them to fill that value void.
The Pirates system doesn’t feature a single 60+. It’s mediocre.
Thanks for the update
So it looks like James Wood will be the top prospect by mid-April
At that point there will be no prospects with a grade above 60
Per BA, James Wood was the 35th ranked draft prospect prior to the 2021 draft
Lonnie White Jr was the 32nd ranked draft prospect prior to the 2021 draft
Combined they have fewer than 500 PAs as professionals
Combined Elon Musk and I are worth 200 billion dollars.
Lonnie would be starting for State in the fall.
He made the right decision.
I hope priester is working on a 2 seamer because I think the scouts don’t like his 4 seamer.
Two seamer was really strong for him down the stretch. Had issues throwing it on both sides of the plate early on but seemed to fix that down the stretch. But yea the 4 seam was really flat at times.
The Fangraphs rankings are important because they’re the most thorough. Read what Tess and Eric wrote in their pirates writeup. It’s a novel.
Even if I didn’t agree with what some of what was written, I respect it because you can tell they took their time and can feel they didn’t lean heavy on just what they saw on the box score.
Buts its just an opinion man, in a big Labowsky voice.
Shut up, Donnie!
Seems to me that the evaluations of prospects are weird such as ratings for some teams “new” prospects being higher than established prospects making legitimate progress. Terrmar may be fantastic someday but he is not on the level of Endy for example and do that for every team and at least 30-40 prospects should be ranked lower.
Then you have crazy athleticism like Bubba who isn’t ranked but other prospects who are fading linger in the rankings. No example here but I’m sure you can find a few.
‘Good’ to see Termarr is hurt. Hammies can linger. What is it with our #1 picks getting hurt? Swaggerty. Priester, Davis, Gonzales and now TJ? Sheesh!!
Johnson must be one of the greatest prospects to enter this list so high when he has actually done very little at the professional level. What am I missing besides the Wade Bogs comps?
Just how it works now. Drew Jones is 8th, Jackson Holiday 9th.
Our system looks just middling to me and that’s frustrating given we’ve been at this rebuild so long.
Yep, thinking pretty much the same. Per their dollar value system, the Bucs get a big bump cause it’s a deep system. But not as many star type talents, especially as Baltimore and Arizona.
The Pirates never draft top of the line prospects. The closes they came was last year with TJ. IN THE LAST 10 YEARS THEY passed over a boatload of stars. I’m too old to look up every one they passed on, but it was the same with International, always quantity over quality.
If you could trade the Pirates entire minor league system to another what team would it be? Straight up trade from AAA on down. Doesn’t matter if on 40 man roster or not. Going to have to do some research while at work today.
Arizona. Baltimore. Cleveland. Dodgers. Just to name a few. Do you get those organizations’ development staff too?
After further review I’d go Baltimore but take Arizona’s in a heartbeat.
Yeah. I’d take most of the posters on here over the current development team. Reading how some of y’all break down swings and pitches I’d buy in.
The bucco’s have a hard time developing prospects.