MLB Top Prospects: Farm System Rankings for all 30 teams

15. Houston Astros

2017 Ranking: 8
Prospects in the top 150: 5
Projected starters 25 and under: 4

If you were to ask any fan whether he/she would prefer a top 10 farm system or a World Series title, the answer would be easily for the latter every single time. With the non-baseball things that happened in Houston last season, a World Series win was incredibly positive for the city and its players and seems to have created an impressive bond between many of the young players on the Astros and their fan base.

Of course, it’s not all that long ago that the Astros were one of the top 5 systems in all of baseball on an annual basis, and that’s how they got themselves to the point of being World Series champions. Using pieces of that system allowed the Astros to get the final touches to put them over the top, specifically the trade for Justin Verlander that cost multiple top pieces from the farm system late in August.

While the current farm system may not have a ton of depth behind top prospects Kyle Tucker and Forrest Whitley, two of the top 20-30 prospects in the game, there is a lot of high-ceiling behind those guys that will have the time to develop with a young Astros team at the major league level that is mostly in place for a few years.

14. Cleveland Indians

2017 Ranking: 16
Prospects in the top 150: 4
Projected starters 25 and under: 3

Much like the Astros, the Indians have a young team in place at the major league level that is mostly going to be in place for a while. Also like the Astros, the Indians system has two elite prospects at the top that are heads and shoulders above the rest of the system.

However, the Indians do have a long history of developing excellent role players from out of nowhere, and their AA/AAA rosters are loaded right now with guys who have that sort of look to them along with some players who have the upside of a productive big league regular. If even a handful of those with upside hit, this ranking will look quite low five years from now, but due to getting to the upper minors with much of that upside still unrealized, there’s certainly the question whether it will be realized at all.

The Indians also lost some of their major league development, which happens when you’ve established an excellent development program that continues once players get to the big leagues. It will be interesting to see how the team handles their shift from small market darling to “favorite” this season, as most figure the Indians as the AL Central division winner, lending plenty of pressure on the team to perform.

The minor league side of development remains mostly in tact and tends to be some of the most impressive in the game, giving plenty of hope for young players like Nolan Jones and Will Benson as they come through the system with big tools and a need for polish on those tools. There will certainly be the pieces to make a midseason move as needed for the Indians, though making those moves and graduating a number of players to the majors recently are part of why the system is ranked here.

Next: #12/13