As our MLB top prospects lists are complete for each team, we’ll look at how each system ranks against each other across all of baseball.
With Opening Day Thursday, the focus has shifted to the season now from MLB top prospect list season. We finish our look at MLB top prospects by ranking each farm system from #30 to #1.
These rankings are done by Call To The Pen editor Benjamin Chase. He has taken a number of factors into play, which includes elite prospects within the system, depth of quality prospects within the system, system history of development, and some effect on how close the best prospects are to the major leagues and also how well those prospects at the upper levels performed.
For information, projected starters are taken from Roster Resource, and include the starting 8 position players for NL, 8 position players and DH for AL, starting rotation, and projected closer. For National League teams, that’s 14 possible starting positions, and in the American League, that’s 15 spots.
Without much more lead up, we will get started with our #30 organization…
30. Seattle Mariners
2017 Ranking: 19
Prospects in the top 150: 1
Projected starters 25 and under: 1
General Manager Jerry Dipoto has certainly left his mark on the Mariners organization for years to come, whether he sticks around after the 2018 season or not when his contract is up this offseason. Dipoto has built a team to win, but he’s seemingly put together a team to win 80-85 games each season rather than going for a team that could win 90+. Whether that has to do with budget restraints or a lack of desire for players to sign in Seattle is anyone’s guess.
It is certainly not for a lack of trying to change the makeup and dynamic of the club. Few GMs in all of baseball have made more moves than Dipoto’s Mariners moves over the last five seasons,, and Dipoto has only been with the Mariners since October of 2015!
Trades the last few seasons have sent away prospects that now find themselves ranked among the top prospects in the game (Luiz Gohara, Alex Jackson, Tyler O’Neill) or as productive big leaguers (Brad Miller, Logan Morrison, Mark Trumbo, Jose Ramirez, Chris Taylor, Mike Montgomery, Ketel Marte, Taijuan Walker) for little return. Add in letting guys like J.C. Ramirez walk through minor league free agency, and it’s been a rough tenure for Dipoto.
The top prospect in the organization has totaled 79 games played since being drafted in 2016 due to severe injuries that very well could drastically dim his long-term outlook. Beyond Lewis in the Mariners farm system, there are a number of quality relief arms and some mid-rotation arms with some projection that are old for their league as the top guys in the system.
The Mariners only have 7 players signed for 2019 currently (though Nelson Cruz is the only “major” free agent from the roster), but those 7 players constitute $120 million of commitment, and it is 2022 until the team is under $50 million in contract commitments that have already been made, meaning much of the future of the organization has already been mortgaged into long-term contracts.
Perhaps the bright spot for a candidate stepping in to Dipoto’s role after 2018 is that with so little in the farm system, completely overhauling it will not be a rough task as any improvement will be massive to the system overall.
Next: #28/29