Organizational rankings paint Sox farm system in better light
Baseball America higher on talent in pipeline
The sky was falling in Boston last month when Keith Law of The Athletic revealed his organizational rankings and put the Red Sox farm system in the bottom ten, at No. 23.
“Their group of position-player prospects is probably in the upper half of farm systems, but their group of pitching prospects is one of the weakest,” Law assessed. “They might not have a future MLB starter anywhere on their full-season rosters; the best of those candidates all have huge reliever risk, at least.”
Bleak stuff, even with the caveat that Brayan Bello is no longer a prospect and was excellent down the stretch last season.
But this week, Baseball America dropped their annual organizational talent rankings, as they’ve done since 1984. Believe it or not, that’s almost 40 years ago.
They rank the Red Sox tenth.
“Slowly but surely, Boston’s system is improving,” the blurb reads. “The group isn’t deep, but it’s led by near-ready first baseman Triston Casas and talented shortstop Marcelo Mayer. Breakout prospect Ceddanne Rafaela and toolsy wunderkind Miguel Bleis add upside to the system, and Japanese import Masataka Yoshida gives Boston a plug-andplay outfielder for its newlook lineup.”
This is the first time in over five years that Boston has cracked BA’s top ten. They ranked 24th in their 2018 championship season, then fell to 30th in 2019. In the Chaim Bloom era, they’ve clawed their way back; 20th in 2020 and 2021, 11th last year. They rank ahead of the Yankees (15), and Blue Jays (17), and Phillies (19), whom Law put one spot better than them in his list.
In Law’s rankings, the Dodgers have the best farm system, followed by the Guardians (2), and Orioles (3), while the White Sox (28), Braves (29), and Tigers (30) are at the bottom. He ranked the other American League East rivals favorably: the Rays came in fifth and the Yankees slotted in at 14th. Both evaluators agreed on the Blue Jays at 17th, though.
BA gave its worst slots to the White Sox (28), Royals (29), and Braves (30), and ranked the Orioles No. 1, followed by the Diamondbacks and Dodgers.
In terms of their Top 100 Prospects, the rankings diverge once again. BA puts Marcelo Mayer (10), Triston Casas (28), Ceddanne Rafaela (71), Masataka Yoshida (87), and Miguel Bleis (88) on their list.
Law has Mayer No. 11 and Casas at No. 40, but is more favorable to Rafaela (37) and Bleis (72).
In other words, who knows?
To some extent, baseball is a crapshoot in every possible way. Every season is a
chance to make magic, every game is nine innings of anything can happen.
Maybe the pitching staff gives up a franchise-record 28 runs in one game, maybe the pitcher throws a no-hitter.
Maybe this farm system really is bottom-10, but maybe it’s top-10.
Maybe the Red Sox are a last-place team, maybe they shock the world (again).
That’s kind of the fun of it.
Quick hits
Tanner Houck made his first start of the spring
against the Phillies on Thursday, but couldn’t get out of the second inning and was pulled after loading the bases. He didn’t allow a hit, but walked four of nine batters faced and only struck out two. Of his 41 pitches, only 20 were for strikes. He also had a pitch clock violation. The 4-0 Sox won 15-3.
Christian Arroyo had a two-homer game on Thursday, with an opposite-field solo shot and a grand slam over the Monster. Putting on the headset later in the game, he told ESPN, “There’s nothing better as a right-handed hitter than
going right-center.”
Wilyer Abreu added a grand slam of his own in the bottom of the seventh.
Kody Clemens, Roger’s son, homered off Ryan Brasier.
Mic’d up during the game, which was broadcast on ESPN, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said that they “met with all four shortstops face-to-face” before signing Trea Turner. The other three top free-agent shortstops were Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa, and Dansby Swanson.
Dombrowski also offered an update on Bryce
Harper, who underwent Tommy John surgery after the Phillies’ World Series run. “He is at home, he is dry-swinging now…