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March, 2011

2011 BDBL Farm Report

It's that time of year again: time for those of us with great farm clubs to annoy Brian Potrafka by bragging about them, and time for those with poor farms to point out how meaningless this report is.  This year, our panel of experts includes just three: Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus (Kevin Goldstein) and Baseball HQ (Rob Gordon.)  You all know the drill: I assign 100 points to the #1 prospect on each list, 99 points to the #2 prospect, etc..  I then tally up all the points to arrive at the table below:

  Total Pts  2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Avg Rank
STL  1,419 1 24 8 5 11 9 19 10 23 17 12 19 13.2
ALN  1,234 2 3 13 16 6 13 4 16 12 9 4 18 9.7
SCS  1,173 3 2 2 6 12 5 9 13 2 3 10 17 7.0
KAN  953 4 22 23 9 4 4 5 4 11 16 11 4 9.8
SAB  947 5 4 20 22 18 22 8 3 18 15 5 13 12.8
ATL  918 6 7 4 4 10 21 10 14 17 11 20 24 12.3
AKR  899 7 5 12 8 23 12 18 21 15 13 2 9 12.1
MIS  866 8 9 1 1 3 16 17 19 7 8 15 10 9.5
CHI  783 9 1 6 12 2 10 14 2 5 1 8 12 6.8
VIL  781 10 12 15 15 7 6 1 1 10 18 18 8 10.1
SCA  757 11 15 17 14 16 11 15 11 9 7 14 15 12.9
NMB  695 12 14 3 7 15 23 22 15 14 5 1 3 11.2
BCJ  555 13 8 9 23 9 3 12 22 20 21 23 21 15.3
NIA  536 14 17 18 17 17 18 11 23 24 6 9 23 16.4
BUC 535 15 13 16 21 20 17 20 18 6 14 17 11 15.7
CLE  529 16 10 21 20 13 19 24 24 21 24 24 20 19.7
RAV  453 17 19 19 19 22 24 23 12 22 20 13 5 17.9
GLS  413 18 16 24 24 21 14 16 9 16 19 21 6 17.0
LAU  365 19 11 5 2 1 1 2 6 19 2 3 7 6.5
SAL  248 20 6 10 3 5 8 7 8 1 10 7 1 7.2
NYG 42 21 21 7 13 8 2 3 7 8 12 16 22 11.7
LVF  37 22 20 11 10 14 15 21 17 13 23 22 16 17.0
SYL  27 23 23 14 18 19 20 13 20 4 22 19 14 17.4
COR  21 24 18 22 11 24 7 6 5 3 4 6 2 11.0

#1 St. Louis Apostles
Ranked prospects: Mike Minor (31), Kyle Gibson (32), Wilin Rosario (36), Miguel Sano (39), Devin Mesoraco (45), Jose Iglesias (54), Chris Carter (61), Yonder Alonso (65), Zack Cox (75), Wilmer Flores (86), Nick Weglarz (95), Luis Heredia (106), Matt Davidson (130)
Unranked prospects: Alfredo Despaigne, Nick Williams, Trey Williams, Mark Appel, Phillippe Aumont

Snow still blankets the ground here in New England, yet Bobby Sylvester has already managed to make NINE trades already this season.  The sole purpose of all that wheeling-and-dealing appears to be to ensure that the Apostles will rank highly in this report.  Given the fact that the St. Louis farm has gone from the worst in the league to the best in only one year, I'd say mission accomplished!  With those nine trades, the Apostles added Mesoraco, Weglarz, Carter, Sano, Aumont, Rosario, Alonso and Iglesias -- 8 of this team's 13 ranked prospects.  I'm not sure if 13 is the all-time BDBL record for ranked prospects in the farm report, but it must be close.  As none of those 13 prospects are ranked among the top 30, it appears that the strategy here is to opt for quantity over quality.  Given that even the best prospects fail at an alarming rate, maybe that's not such a bad strategy.  But is it a great strategy to trade away impact players like Jamie Moyer, Alexei Ramirez, Raul Ibanez, Brian McCann and Santiago Casilla in exchange for a bunch of "B" grade prospects, while managing a team that many feel is good enough to contend for a playoff spot this year?  Who cares?!  It's all about the arbitrage, baby!

#2 Allentown Ridgebacks
Ranked prospects: Mike Trout (2), Jeremy Hellickson (7), Manny Machado (21), Randall Delgado (44), Grant Green (49), Derek Norris (53)
Unranked prospects: Brad Emaus, Tyler Flowers, Jedd Gyorko, Max Kepler, Ramon Morla, Marcell Ozuna, Josh Rodriguez, Cory Vaughn, Jake Thompson

Given how much time, effort and expense Bobby has put forth in his effort to claim the top spot in this ranking, it is amazing how close this contest is, given that Allentown has yet to trade for any prospects this season.  Allentown graduated two top 10 prospects this past year (Mike Stanton and Carlos Santana) and replaced them with two others.  Trout was famously acquired from the Atlanta Fire Ants last Thanksgiving in an eight-player deal that included Justin Morneau, Jayson Werth, Ian Kinsler and a bunch of salary dumped by Atlanta.  That makes Trout a very expensive acquisition for this season, given the amount of talent Allentown could have acquired for that package of players and salary.  But according to our expert panel, he will be worth that expense at some point down the road.  By 2013, Allentown could be sporting an outfield of Trout, Stanton and Bruce -- three prospects that each ranked among the top three in baseball in recent years.  And Hellickson is poised to join Roy Oswalt, Felix Hernandez and Tim Lincecum in the long tradition of great pitching developed through the Allentown farm club.  Four trophies, the #2 farm system in the league and the undying love and adoration of the Baseball Gods.  It's good to be Tom DiStefano.

#3 South Carolina Sea Cats
Ranked prospects: Aroldis Chapman (5), Freddie Freeman (16), Manny Banuelos (28), Brody Colvin (49), Jordan Lyles (56), Jenrry Mejia (62), Anthony Rizzo (85)
Unranked prospects: Jeremy Baltz, Adrian Cardenas, Logan Forsythe, Greg Halman, Reese Havens, Cedric Hunter, Ryan Lavarnway, Alex Liddi, Anthony Rendon, Alex Torres, Taijuan Walker

The Sea Cats rank #3 in this survey, despite the fact that arguably their best prospect, Rendon, is still hammering away in college.  Chapman was the #1 overall pick in the 2010 farm draft, and Rizzo was a very nice pickup in round four of that draft.  Last year, I traded Banuelos (and Troy Glaus) for Jarrod Washburn -- who I was then forced to trade away just hours later after the Greinke trade put me over the cap.  Had I not dealt him, Banuelos would be my #1 prospect.  But this isn't about me.  It's about the Sea Cats and their four -- count 'em -- prospects ranked among the top 50 in baseball.  Quietly as can be, the Sea Cats' farm has now ranked among the top three in the BDBL three years in a row.  And don't look now, but they've also managed to leap past Salem with the third-best average farm ranking in this survey.  But again, it's not about me.

#4 Kansas Law Dogs
Ranked prospects: Mike Moustakas (8), John Lamb (22), Nick Franklin (33), Drew Pomeranz (51), Christian Colon (84), Aaron Crow (99), Yasmani Grandal (112), Christian Yelich (120), A.J. Cole (123)
Unranked prospects: Cheslor Cuthbert, Archie Bradley, Dylan Bundy, Tim Melville, Daniel Norris

Nine ranked prospects, and four of them are K.C. Royals.  Go figure.  It's very impressive that the Law Dogs were able to snag a top-40 prospect out of that garbage dump we called a farm draft pool this past winter.  Five teams passed on Franklin to make that miracle happen.  There was a bit of difference in opinion on Franklin from our panel of experts, as he was ranked as high as #18 (HQ) and as low as #44 (BP).  The opinion was equally as diverse for Lamb, who was ranked #11 by BP and #42 by HQ.  But opinions were much more consistent with Moustakas, who is the highest-ranked Kansas prospect since Brandon Wood.  (Let's just hope for Luhning's sake that Moustakas doesn't follow in Wood's footsteps.)  Now that former third-base-franchise-player-for-life David Wright is gone, Moustakas appears poised to fill that position for the next decade (or until the next third-base-franchise-player-for-life appears on the Kansas farm.)

#5 San Antonio Broncs
Ranked prospects: Michael Pineda (17), Brandon Belt (19), Aaron Hicks (52), Tanner Scheppers (64), Danny Espinosa (69), Craig Kimbrel (76), Kenley Jansen (98), Guillermo Pimentel (125)
Unranked prospects: Paul Goldschmidt, Jared Mitchell, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Chris Owings, Jake Skole, Oscar Tejeda, Blake Beavan, Cam Bedrosian, Jesse Biddle, Tyrell Jenkins, Scott Richmond

The Broncs graduated two top-10 prospects this past year (Neftali Feliz and Brian Matusz), yet their farm still ranks among the top five in the league, thanks in part to the emergence of Pineda, who leapt from the unranked masses a year ago to #17.  Heading in the opposite direction over the same timeframe is Hicks, who fell from #25 a year ago to #52 today.  The prospect evaluation business is very much a "what have you done for me lately?" sort of enterprise, and yet Hicks fell in the ranking despite improving his OPS from 735 to 829!  Belt was the #1 pick in this year's farm draft, and San Antonio's reward for closing out the final chapter of last season with a 7-21 record.  He is by far the highest-ranked prospect to emerge from that draft so far (with Kansas' Franklin a distant #2.)  At $3 million in salary, Espinosa is easily the most expensive prospect in this report.

#6 Atlanta Fire Ants
Ranked prospects: Bryce Harper (1), Mike Montgomery (18), Zack Wheeler (63), Zach Lee (66), Arodys Vizcaino (69), Jordan Walden (93), Cesar Puello (103), Aaron Miller (118)
Unranked prospects: Tim Beckham, Starling Marte, Aderlin Rodriguez, Jemile Weeks, Kaleb Cowart, Carlos Perez

For the second year in a row, the #1 prospect in baseball is someone who has yet to play a single inning of professional ball in a game that actually counts in the standings.  I remember oh-so-fondly the winter of 2009, when -- just a few weeks before our farm draft was held -- I read an article about a 15-year-old high school sophomore who was setting the world on fire.  I quickly e-mailed Gene Patterson and asked what it would take to get his #1 overall pick that year.  He explained that he had no plans for that pick, but was reluctant to trade it to me.  I offered to trade him one of my better farm players (I don't recall who) in exchange for that pick, but he still wouldn't bite.  He then said, "Boy, the guy you want must be pretty good."  I told him I thought he was, but he's a total crapshoot (which is true of any 15-year-old.)  Convinced that Gene wouldn't trade his pick, I then offered to tell Gene who to take with that pick if he would trade me one of his scrub relievers.  Instead, Gene went to Tom, and the two of them did a little digging.  And that's how the Fire Ants ended up with the #1 prospect in baseball.  True story.

#7 Akron Ryche
Ranked prospects: Domonic Brown (4), Dustin Ackley (12), Danny Duffy (57), Tyler Chatwood (73), Nick Castellanos (77), Travis d'Arnaud (81)
Unranked prospects: James Darnell, Jason Esposito, Travis Harrison, Levi Michael, Kolten Wong, Jack Armstrong, Trevor Bauer, Dylan Covey, Matthew Purke, Chance Ruffin

Last year, Tommy Hanson went from the #1 prospect on this team to the #1 pitcher on the Akron staff.  (Okay, maybe #2 behind Verlander.)  Were it not for his recent injury, Brown might have had a chance to make a similar move, becoming one of Akron's better hitters in 2012.  Both he and Ackley will graduate to the big club this year, leaving Duffy as the team's top prospect.  But with so many top amateur players on this farm club, the next wave of Akron prospects is right behind this group.  The best of that lot may be Purke, the Baseball America Freshman of the Year last year, who whiffed 142 batters in just 116+ innings while going a perfect 16-0 on the season.  He's already off to a stellar start to 2011, sporting a 5/24 BB/K rate after four starts.  With a resume that includes Purke, Hanson, Verlander, Mark Mulder, Mark Prior, Jeff Weaver, Cliff Lee and Rich Harden, D.J. Shepard is practically the Dave Duncan of the BDBL.

#8 Mississippi Meatballs
Ranked prospects: Chris Sale (24), Tyler Matzek (26), Alex White (41), Trey McNutt (58), Jake McGee (71), Trevor May (86), Christian Friedrich (114), Jaff Decker (127), Drake Britton (127)
Unranked prospects: Peter Hissey, Rex Brothers, Cameron Coffey, Adys Portillo, Anthony Swarzak

The arbitrage kings once again eke into the top ten, thanks in part to the off-season trade with their favorite trading partners, the St. Louis Apostles, which brought Matsek to Mississippi (along with J.D. Drew) in exchange for Joba Chamberlain, Mike Pelfrey and Matt Davidson.  GM Nic Weiss went all out to add McNutt to his farm system this past chapter, sacrificing Andre Ethier and Miguel Sano.  Despite his gaudy stats last year (2.48 ERA in 116+ IP, 93 H, 5 HR, 37 BB, 132 K), McNutt didn't crack the top 40 on any of our experts' lists, topping out at #48 by BA.  (Get it?  McNutt...crack?)  A relief prospect like Sale cracking the top 25 is a bit of a rarity.  The last time a reliever was this franchise's top prospect was when Ryan Wagner ranked #30 overall back in 2004.  For Nic's sake, let's hope Sale has a better career.

#9 Chicago Black Sox
Ranked prospects: Jesus Montero (3), Jarrod Parker (30), Tony Sanchez (59), Jean Segura (60), Ian Krol (113)
Unranked prospects: Reymond Fuentes, Anthony Gose, Matt Lipka, Kyle Skipworth, Kolbrin Vitek, Ryan Westmoreland, Nick Barnese, Casey Crosby, Ethan Martin, Anthony Ranaudo

How impressive is this Chicago farm system?  Year after year after year, John Gill manages to assemble a top-notch farm club.  We're now looking at NINE top-ten rankings in a dozen years.  That is incredibly impressive, given the turnover rate of the average farm system in this league.  Almost 40% of Chicago's total points this year come from one player: Montero.  You may remember that he was the centerpiece in that trade last winter with the St. Louis Apostles, in which GM John Gill parted with Evan Longoria.  Given that Longoria was already an established young superstar with a $100K salary and no contract at the time of that trade, Montero will have to be at least as impressive in order to justify that deal.  (Note: Chicago also received Westmoreland and Josh Bell in that deal.)  That's a tall order for ANY prospect.

#10 Villanova Mustangs
Ranked prospects: Eric Hosmer (8), Martin Perez (24), Jarred Cosart (71), Jason Knapp (79), J.P. Arencibia (80), Matt Dominguez (91), Brent Morel (110)
Unranked prospects: Brett Eibner, Michael Taylor, Josh Vitters, Levon Washington, Chad Bettis, Robbie Erlin, Kyle Heckathorne, Trevor Reckling, Peter Tago

Once upon a time, the Mustangs owned the BDBL Farm Report.  After a three-year hiatus, Villanova is back among the top ten.  They couldn't have done it without the help of Hosmer, who came to the club in the infamous Zack Greinke/BDBL Weekend trade of 2010.  All Hosmer did last year was hit .338/.406/.571 at two levels (High-A and Double-A), with 43 doubles, 9 triples and 20 homers, and a 59/66 BB/K ratio, and 14 stolen bases in 16 attempts -- all at the age of 20.  And to think, some people actually bitched that Chamra didn't get enough in return in that Greinke deal.  The Villanova farm is also occupied by not one, but TWO players who will be full-time starting third basemen for their MLB teams this year: Dominguez and Morel.  And just in case that isn't enough depth, the Mustangs also have former first rounder Vitters hanging out on the farm, with his nose pressed up against the window, just waiting for a chance to play.

#11 Southern Cal Slyme
Ranked prospects: Jacob Turner (20), Billy Hamilton (43), Casey Kelly (45), Dee Gordon (47), Jake Odorizzi (88), Delino Deshields (107), Deck McGuire (123)
Unranked prospects: Engel Beltre, Kyle Russell, George Springer, David Bromberg, Yu Darvish, Mike Foltynewicz, Taylor Jungmann, Stolmy Pimentel

Given the success of this franchise in recent years, it's hard to believe this is the highest ranking this farm system has had since 2006.  Hell, back in 2006, this team's top prospect was just 14 years old, Odorizzi was a teammate of Sylvester's son, Bobby, and Deshields was a student at Gene Patterson's school.  If you play this game long enough, it will make you feel pretty old.  I can only imagine how old Bob must feel.  Hamilton is ranked as the 43rd best prospect in the game, yet he wasn't selected until the 21st pick of this winter's draft.  Either we were all asleep at the wheel, or our panel of experts are way off the mark.

#12 New Milford Blazers
Ranked prospects: Jameson Taillon (10), Matt Moore (11), Josh Sale (67), Chris Dwyer (78), Jerry Sands (130)
Unranked prospects: Jeff Bianchi, Robinson Chirinos, Johnny Giavotella, Elliot Johnson, Deven Marrero, Esteilon Peguero, Drew Vettleson, Bryan Morris, Enny Romero, Zach Stewart

This past winter's decision by Greg Newgard to trade Taillon in exchange for some salary cap space is the type of decision that causes a person to kick himself in the ass -- hard -- for a number of years afterward.  Trust me, I know.  Taillon was ranked #19 by HQ, #11 by BA, and #8 by BP.  He is the highest ranked Blazers pitching prospect since Clayton Asswipe.  And according to Baseball Prospectus, New Milford owns two of the top ten prospects in baseball, with Moore being the other.  BP also ranked Sale incredibly highly, at #19, while he ranked just #88 on the Baseball America list, and wasn't listed at all in HQ's top 100.  Of course, Taillon has yet to throw a professional pitch, so let's not get too excited.

#13 Bear Country Jamboree
Ranked prospects: Desmond Jennings (14), Chris Archer (41), Stetson Allie (74), Matt Harvey (97), Garrett Richards (107), Hak-Ju Lee (118), Wilson Ramos (125)
Unranked prospects: Oswaldo Arcia, Chun-Hsiu Chen, Chris Marrero, Carlos Triunfel, Jose Casilla, Cole Kimball, Matt Packer, Eduardo Sanchez, Junichi Tazawa, Karsten Whitson

Jennings leapt all the way from #61 to #5 a year ago, but has now fallen to #14 after hitting just .278/.362/.393 in Triple-A last season.  He still projects to be a Lofton-like force on the base paths, but questions have now been raised about his bat.  He is still considered to be a top ten prospect by HQ (#9 overall.)  The team's newest acquisition, Archer, was ranked as high as #27 (BA), and as low as #70 (BP.)  And Allie was ranked in the top 40 by BP, but didn't even make HQ's top 100.  When there is this much difference of opinion about a group of prospects, that usually implies that they are talented, but have issues of one kind or another.  With Jennings, it's his bat.  With Archer, it's his control (his BB/9 rate was 5.01 at Double-A last season.)  And with Allie, it's his inexperience (as he has yet to throw a professional pitch.)  It's interesting to note that three of Bear Country's ranked prospects (Marrero, Triunfel and Tazawa) are highly-talented former top-50 prospects who fell out of the ranking completely because of flaws in their games.  It goes to show how inexact this science can be.

#14 Niagara Locks
Ranked prospects: Shelby Miller (14), Jonathan Singleton (38), Jurickson Profar (68), Alex Colome (110), Joe Benson (132)
Unranked prospects: Josh Bell, Slade Heathcott, Jiwan James, Domingo Santana, Jason Adam, Michael Inoa, Jay Jackson, Carlos Martinez, Jose Ramirez, Chris Withrow

Mike Ranney's predecessor was famous for loading up his farm roster with Japanese guys, so it's somewhat amusing to see the new guy loading up his farm with Latin American teenagers.  The only one that is ranked (so far) is Profar, who was ranked by all three experts despite hitting just .250/.323/.373 in his pro debut last year.  Since he just turned 18 a couple weeks ago, I guess we'll cut him some slack.  Miller also has just one year of pro experience so far, but it was incredibly impressive.  In 104+ innings, he whiffed 140 batters (an average of more than 12 per nine!), while walking just 33.  Singleton is an interesting prospect as well.  He now has minor league at-bats under his belt (almost one full season), and owns a career rate of .290/.394/.471, with 34 doubles, 16 homers and an impressive 80/87 BB/K rate.

#15 Buckingham Badgers
Ranked prospects: Brett Jackson (29), Dellin Betancees (40), Simon Castro (55), Andrew Brackman (95), Mark Rogers (120), Austin Romine (129)
Unranked prospects: Matt Carpenter, Jonathan Schoop, Marquez Smith, Eric Sogard, Donovan Tate, Eric Thames, Clayton Cook, Chad Jenkins, Graham Stoneburner, Pat Venditte, Adam Warren

With Betances and Brackman, the Badgers own two-thirds of the Yankees' "Killer B's" trio.  Unfortunately, they're missing the best of the bunch, Manny Banuelos.  Betances dominated the FSL last year (71 IP, 43 H, 1 HR, 19 BB, 88 K, 1.77 ERA), while Brackman posted a stellar 9/56 BB/K ratio in 60 innings for the same team (despite a 5.10 ERA.)  If Buckingham holds onto both of them, there's a good chance we could see them in the Badgers' rotation by 2013.  Jackson has decent speed (14 triples and 30 SB's at two levels last year), and controls the strike zone well enough (73 BB, 126 K) that he should make an impact on the Buckingham roster eventually, as a Shane Victorino type of player.

#16 Cleveland Rocks
Ranked prospects: Kyle Drabek (23), Lonnie Chisenhall (25), Ben Revere (82), Trayvon Robinson (103)
Unranked prospects: Leslie Anderson, Adeiny Hechevarria, Matt Barnes, Dan Schlereth, Jess Todd, Zach Von Rosenberg, Carl Webster

After finishing among the bottom five in this survey nine times in ten years, the Rocks finally posted a top ten showing last year.  Yet, even though Drabek's ranking remains virtually the same (#23 this year vs. #20 a year ago), and Chisenhall (#49 a year ago) climbed the ladder a bit, the Rocks have plunged back down to #16, where Mike Stein feels more comfortable.  Last year, I pointed out that Cleveland's prospects (such as Brandon Webb, Chase Utley, Russ Martin and Dan Uggla) have not fared very well in this survey because they turned out to be much better big leaguers than they were minor leaguers.  It's impossible to imagine guys like Robinson, Anderson, Hechevarria, Barnes, Webster and Von Rosenberg following in those footsteps, but strange things seem to happen often in Cleveland.

#17 Ravenswood Infidels
Ranked prospects: Wil Myers (13), Jason Kipnis (34), Rubby de la Rosa (114)
Unranked prospects: Jackie Bradley, Jr., Ivan DeJesus, Todd Frazier, L.J. Hoes, Wei-Yin Chen, Liam Hendricks, Hector Noesi, Rudy Owens, Eric Surkamp

It always annoys me when teams take a perfectly good catching prospect and move him to some other position.  To me, the benefit of having a catcher who hits well above average far outweighs the risk of that player hurting himself while he's still under team control.  But that never seems to stop teams like Kansas City (with Myers) and Washington (with Bryce Harper) from doing just that.  Over two levels last year, Myers hit .315/.429/.506, with 37 doubles, 14 homers and a BB/K ratio of 85/94.  Those are impressive numbers regardless of position...but would be SO much more impressive if coming from a catcher.  How highly regarded is Myers?  Believe it or not he is the highest-ranked prospect the Ravenswood farm has owned since...brace yourselves...Vernon Wells...way back in 1999.

#18 Great Lakes Sphinx
Ranked prospects: Zach Britton (27), Brett Lawrie (37), Jeremy Jeffress (102)
Unranked prospects: Jordan Danks, Daryl Jones, D.J. LeMahieu, Christian Lopes, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, A.J. Pollock, Jordan Schafer, Neftali Soto, Chris Carpenter, Tyler Robertson, Alex Wimmers

For the sixth time in this 12-year study, the Sphinx farm ranks among the bottom seven.  I actually like the unranked prospects on this team better than the ranked.  Nishioka (the team's #1 pick in this year's farm draft) should contribute something (although not likely much) immediately, which puts him way ahead of 95% of the other players on this page.  Pollock has had a good spring, and could move quickly this year.  And Lopes is one of the top high school hitters in this year's class.

#19 Los Altos Undertakers
Ranked prospects: Julio Teheran (6), Nolan Arenado (88), Fabio Martinez (101)
Unranked prospects: Bryce Brentz, Garin Cecchini, Kenny Diekroeger, Daniel Descalso, Danny Hultzen, Osvaldo Martinez, Justin O'Conner, Bubba Starling, Max Stassi, Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray, Henry Owens, Aaron Sanchez

Once the pride and joy of the BDBL, the Los Altos farm system ranked among the top five for five years in a row, from 2005 to 2009.  But after a shocking 11th place standing in last year's report, the Undertakers have now fallen all the way to #19.  God help us all.  Teheran is the highest-ranked pitcher on the Los Altos farm since Ben Sheets (#2) in 2001.  In a year or two, he'll make a fine one-two combo with Jon Lester.  Don't get used to seeing the Undertakers this low in the ranking, as several of the players on that unranked list (most notably Cole, Gray and Starling) will likely be highly ranked next year after they become first-round picks this June.  And thus, the Los Altos circle of life will be complete.

#20 Salem Cowtippers
Ranked prospects: Gary Sanchez (35), Michael Choice (82)
Unranked prospects: Gary Brown, Kentrail Davis, Alex Dickerson, Brian Goodwin, Mike Olt, Kyle Parker, Addison Russell, Scott Elbert, Hisashi Iwakuma, Jhan Marinez, Asher Wojciechowski

Yes, it's true.  After 11 straight years of ranking among the top 10 in this study, these are indeed the darkest of days for the Salem farm.  After trading away Eric Hosmer in the ill-fated Greinke trade at BDBL Weekend last year, and with the graduation of Stephen Strasburg to the big club, the Salem farm is now all but barren.  The only two ranked prospects on the 'Tippers farm have played a combined 77 games at the professional level.  And next year's ranking may not be any better, as there are no prospects on the unranked list with a better than 50% chance of appearing on top-100 lists next spring.  Basically, it will likely require a rebuilding year for the Salem farm club to return to the top ten.

#21 New York Giants
Ranked prospects: Andy Oliver (92)
Unranked prospects: Vicmal de la Cruz, Austin Hedges, Renato Nunez, Ariel Ovando, Luis Sardinas, Eskarlin Vazquez, Tim Wheeler, Everett Williams, Tim Alderson, Adonis Cardona, Tim Collins, Dan Cortes, Lance McCullers, Alex Meyer

Give the Giants farm points for consistency.  They ranked #21 a year ago as well, and their only ranked prospect, Oliver, was ranked #87 by all three experts on our panel.  What are the odds?  Jim Doyle, infamous for his goofy GM strategies, loaded up on 16-year-old Latin American prospects this winter.  I'm not sure what the point of that was, but I'm sure it'll work just as well as all of Doyle's other strategies.  Oddly enough, the prospect most likely to make an impact on the Giants in the near future is diminutive little Munchkin Tim Collins, who looks like he'll make Kansas City's roster on Opening Day.  He's nothing more than a short-usage bullpen lefty, but hey, it's something.

#22 Las Vegas Flamingoes
Ranked prospects: Tyler Skaggs (93)
Unranked prospects: Bryan Anderson, David Cooper, Donnie Murphy, Eduardo Nunez, J.R. Towles, Nick Hagadone, Bryan Henry, Josh Lindblom, Jeff Locke, Lance Lynn, Michael Main, Matt Reynolds, Sammy Solis, Brandon Workman

Johnny Bo selected Skaggs with the fifth overall pick of this year's farm draft.  For two different Low-A teams in the Midwest League last year, the left-handed Skaggs allowed 91 hits in 98+ innings, with 7 HR, 25 BB and 102 K.  There isn't much to say about him beyond that.  Nor is there much to say about any of Vegas' unranked prospects.  So I guess I'll just move on.

#23 Sylmar Padawans
Ranked prospects: Lars Anderson (100)
Unranked prospects: Isaac Galloway, Reggie Golden, Miguel Gonzalez, Wes Hodges, Jake Marisnick, Hunter Morris, Connor Narron, Carlos Perez, Eury Perez, B.A. Vollmuth, Tanner Bushue, Juan Nicasio, Chaz Roe

I didn't need to do much to change that list of prospects above.  In fact, all I did was changed Anderson's ranking from #121 to #100, removed Jose Iglesias from the ranked prospects and added B.A. Vollmuth to the unranked list.  I didn't even change the ranking, as this team ranked #23 a year ago as well.  None of the players who were unranked last year improved enough to appear on any of our experts' lists this year.  In other words, Sylmar did nothing but kick the can down the road.

#24 Corona Confederates
Ranked prospects: Hank Conger (105)
Unranked prospects: Charlie Blackmon, Bobby Borchering, Yordy Cabrera, Zack Cozart, Anthony Hewitt, Jiovanni Mier, Rougned Odor, Mark Trumbo, Chad James, Joe Savery, John Stilson, Jason Stoffel

This makes two last-place finishes in this survey in the past five years (plus one #22 ranking.)  It's hard to believe this team's one and only ranked prospect is Hank Conger.  There really isn't much to talk about on the unranked list, either.  This is just a sad state of affairs.  But as the St. Louis Apostles have shown, it isn't impossible to go from worst to first in only one year.