It seems like we can never get enough of rankings and lists. However, when I conceived of a power ranking for MLB farm systems, I wanted it to be both different as well as actually useful. How can we wrap our arms around an entire organization’s worth of prospects and gain some perspective?

In an effort to be more creative, I decided to utilize the statistical performance of each organization’s top 30 prospects on a regular basis, rather than the traditional end-of-year summary. Instead of waiting for the dust to settle, I wanted to zoom in to see how different decisions and results impact the strength of individual systems. Ultimately, I want each week to be a snapshot of how an MLB team’s pipeline is (or is not) progressing.

UPDATE: One thing about making weekly lists is you have to recognize when certain parts of your rankings aren’t really coming together to be helpful. On that end, the tiers I identified in last week’s initial column really don’t make sense when combined with numerical rankings. So I’m scrapping them! Instead, I have created a more visually alluring table with some blurbs about certain systems.

 

Ground Rules

 

• This list is made at my discretion. So yes, this is completely subjective.

• This is a weekly rankings list. If the #1 overall prospect gets called up, that team’s farm system will likely be negatively impacted in the rankings. If a pitcher suffers a blowup or a hitter slumps during the week, it’s going to impact the rankings. This is not just based on general Future Value or else I’d make an end-of-year list like everyone else.

• Why is Team X above Team Y? See bullet point #1.

• Yes, I do actually watch minor league games during the week including reviewing specific ABs or innings that I may have missed.

• No I do not hate __________. I keep an open mind about whatever results come in and whoever may be producing them.

• This is supposed to be fun, so let’s have fun with it!