Baseball America will be releasing their Prospect Handbook later this month, which always includes their top farm system rankings. According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Pirates will have the number one ranking in the upcoming book. The Cardinals were number one last year, but dropped to seventh in this year’s rankings.
This isn’t the first time that the Pirates have been ranked number one. Jonathan Mayo had them as the top farm system a few months ago. Baseball America usually releases two different sets of rankings. The first comes when they release their Prospect Handbook. The second set comes right before the season. Those rankings usually feature some changes, although nothing too drastic, especially at the top.
The Pirates are in a good position with a lot of impact talent. They’ve got seven guys who could contend for Baseball America’s top 100 this year, and a few more guys who could make the jump to top 100 prospects with a breakout 2014 season. They will probably graduate Jameson Taillon and Gregory Polanco in 2014, but young guys like Austin Meadows, Reese McGuire, and Tyler Glasnow will still provide a strong system after the 2014 wave arrives in Pittsburgh.
