Baseball Prospectus posted their list of the top 175 players in baseball who are 25-and-under. This list is different from the prospect list in that it just goes by age, so it’s top heavy with players who are already making an impact in the majors. The Pirates have eight players on the list, two from the majors and their top six minor league prospects.
Gerrit Cole is ranked fifth overall on this list, trailing only Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Carlos Correa and Manny Machado.
Gregory Polanco, who just signed a long extension to stay in Pittsburgh until possibly 2023, ranks 31st on this list and he has yet to truly breakout. Assuming they do this list again next year, he has a chance to be near the top if he has a big season.
Tyler Glasnow is the top prospect for the Pirates and usually ranked in the 10-15 range among all prospects. On this list, he is ranked 40th overall, so that gives you a good idea of the Major League talent at the top of the list. You can also tell by three players in the top 40, that the Pirates stack up well against other teams with impact talent.
Next up is Austin Meadows at #62, and again when looking at his prospect rankings where he is usually in the 20-25 range, you see how much weight is given to success in the majors already on their list.
The last four Pirates on the list are Josh Bell(116), Jameson Taillon(118), Reese McGuire(155) and Harold Ramirez rounds it out at 161st. For reference with Ramirez, he ranked 80th on BP’s top 101 prospects list back in late January. They said they made some minor adjustments to the list, but with McGuire ranking four spots ahead of him on the top 101 list and six spots on this list, it doesn’t look like anything changed with that part of the list. So about half of the top talent ahead of Ramirez already lost their prospect status in the majors.
With 175 players on the list and 30 teams, the average team would end up with 5-6 players on the list. The Pirates have eight in the top 161 and all eight are either in the majors already, or at the top two levels in their farm system this year. That’s a good sign for the immediate future of the team, as well as the long-term.
