MLB Farm System Ranks Show the Haves and Have-Nots

The elite farm systems

In my eyes, only one team has really changed from that preseason list. The Milwaukee Brewers have graduated a large number of their top prospects and seen those still on the farm have significant struggles and even step-back seasons, so they’ve moved from the elite group at this point to the middle.

In their place, the Houston Astros, a team that was right on the edge in spring, have seen the development of two top 50 prospects, Franklin Perez and Forrest Whitley, and one top 100 prospect, Yordan Alvarez, and have significantly added to the elite prospects in the system.

However, the class of this group is definitely the teams that are the easy top two in MLB right now – the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago White Sox. The Braves have seen their prospect depth not only show itself well, but a number of their best prospects have taken significant steps forward, including Ronald Acuna, who has a legit argument among the top five prospects in the entire game at this point.

The Chicago White Sox system has been pushed up by big trades in the last year, but they’ve also seen a focus change in their drafting that has really brought in much better results from their 2016 and 2017 draft classes. A guy like Alec Hansen could become a top 50 prospect by the end of the season, and he was a guy the White Sox took a chance on in the 2016 draft, not someone that they acquired in their myriad of deals.

The Phillies, Yankees, Padres and Dodgers all remain among the elite groups, in spite of some trading-away of depth by both the Yankees and Dodgers.

Let’s take a look at the middle teams.