March, 2012

2012 BDBL Farm Report

This just in: the Los Altos Undertakers farm system is pretty good.  How good?  Try, 68% better than the next best farm system in the league!  Yes, you read that correctly.  The Los Altos farm, which ranked only 19th in this report a year ago, racked up a whopping 3,693 points in this year's survey --  nearly 1,500 points more than the #2-ranked Niagara Locks.  Of course, with an average ranking of 6.1 in the 13 years I've been doing this survey, a dominant Los Altos farm system is hardly news to any of us.

Throughout those 13 seasons, I don't think I've ever seen a tighter race for determining the #1 overall prospect in baseball.  Only one point separates #1 Bryce Harper from #2 Matt Moore, and #3-ranked Mike Trout is only four points away from Moore.  Each of these three players received at least one #1 ranking by our expert panel.

For those unfamiliar with the points system, here's how it works.  Each year, I collect the top prospect lists from a select group of experts.  This year, those experts include ESPN's Keith Law, Baseball HQ's Rob Gordon, MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo, Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein and the staff of Baseball America.  I then assign 100 points to the #1 player on each list, 99 points to #2, and so on, down to one point for #100.  I then tally all of the points for every team in the BDBL, which results in something that looks like this:

#1 Los Altos Undertakers
Ranked prospects: Julio Teheran (5), Gerrit Cole (9), Jameson Taillon (12), Devin Mesoraco (13), Bubba Starling (20), Nolan Arenado (21), Danny Hultzen (22), Martin Perez (25), Randall Delgado (52), Sonny Gray (75), Bryce Brentz (107), Aaron Sanchez (142)
Unranked prospects: Wellington Castillo, Garin Cecchini, Gavin Cecchini, Mike Zunino, Mark Appel, Henry Owens

Yep, that's EIGHT prospects in the top 25, which is a new all-time BDBL record.  No other team in league history has ever owned more than five top-25 prospects.  This group of five includes three potential #1 starters in Teheran, Cole and Taillon.  Out of the top seven pitching prospects in baseball right now, the Undertakers own three of them.  Mesoraco has the potential to be an annual all-star behind the plate, and Starling was the best athlete in the loaded Class of 2011, and could very well shoot to the top of this list within the next year.  Along with Starling, Hultzen and Gray were also first-rounders last June.  And Garin Cecchini, Zunino and Appel are projected to be first-rounders this coming June.  This is the tried-and-true Paulson formula: stockpile the best prospects while they are still in high school or college, and once they graduate to the big leagues, replenish them with more amateurs.  The result has been never-ending wave after wave of highly-touted young superstars playing for minimum wage in an Undertakers uniform.

#2 Niagara Locks
Ranked prospects: Jurickson Profar (4), Shelby Miller (8), Carlos Martinez (26), Jonathan Singleton (39), Xander Bogaerts (60), Josh Bell (61), Wily Peralta (62), Joe Benson (106), Domingo Santana (145)
Unranked prospects: Jorge Alfaro, Rossell Herrera, Jason Adam, Alex Colome, Michael Ynoa, David Perez, Chris Withrow

This is the first time since 2002 that the Locks franchise is ranked among the top ten in this survey.  Back then, the franchise was named the "New York Knights", and the owner, Chris Schultheis had just inherited a farm system that was so neglected it included a dead guy (Brian Cole.)  Unfortunately for this franchise, none of the ranked players in 2002 (including Wilson Betemit, Marlon Byrd, Juan Rivera, Kaz Ishii and Brad Thomas) made much of an impact.  Schultheis left before the end of the year, and Steve Osborne took over.  Osborne then spent the next seven years loading his farm with players from Japan.  A few of them -- most notably Daisuke Matsuzaka -- became worthwhile contributors, but most of them flamed out, and the Nashville Funkadelic farm system broke out of the bottom eight only once (at #11) during Osborne's tenure.  When Ranney took over as GM in 2009, he seemed to carry the same love for international talent as his predecessor; only, instead of focusing on Japanese players, Ranney fell in love with Latin American baseball.  In his first farm draft, Ranney selected nine players, and seven of them were teenagers from Latin America -- many of whom were signed less than a year before as international free agents.  He struck gold with one of those prospects: 4th round pick Profar, who was just 17 years old and had yet to play a single professional game when he was selected.  A year later, Ranney dipped back into the international free agent pool by selecting 16-year-old pitcher Carlos Martinez with the 3rd overall pick in the draft.  Again, Martinez had yet to face a single professional hitter at the time he was drafted.  And again, Ranney struck gold, as Martinez is now the 26th-ranked prospect in baseball.  To be certain, there are more failures than success stories in the international free agent market, but no matter what the odds are, eventually someone always wins the lottery.

#3 Atlanta Fire Ants
Ranked prospects: Bryce Harper (1), Zack Wheeler (30), Arodys Vizcaino (34), Zach Lee (50), Starling Marte (59), Will Middlebrooks (63), Mason Williams (74), Kaleb Cowart (107), Jeurys Familia (119)
Unranked prospects: Ehire Adrianza, Miles Head, Ryan Kalish, Clayton Blackburn, Aaron Miller, Robert Stephenson

When Gene Patterson selected a 16-year-old high school sophomore with the #1 pick of the 2009 draft, some may have considered it to be an overreach, but no one is questioning that selection today.  Harper appears poised to become one of the greatest players in baseball over the next decade, and that career should begin next season.  Thanks to their championship 2011 season, the Fire Ants owned the very last pick in the farm draft this winter, yet they ended up with the #74 prospect in baseball with their first round pick of Williams.  He was ranked as highly as #34 (Keith Law's list), but didn't make Rob Gordon's list, and ranked only #73-#99 on the other three lists.  The fact that he is a Yankees prospect, plays center field, is black, and has the last name of Williams, brings the inevitable comparisons to Bernie.  When Bernie was 21 years old (two years older than Mason), he was ranked #77 on the Baseball America top-100 list.  A year later, he was ranked #11.  Let's see if Mason can make a similar climb up the ranking this year.  Wheeler, Familia and Middlebrooks were all acquired last season -- a neat trick for a championship team.

#4 Kansas Law Dogs
Ranked prospects: Dylan Bundy (10), Christian Yelich (36), Mike Montgomery (40), Yasmani Grandal (46), A.J. Cole (65), Nick Franklin (71), Cheslor Cuthbert (77), Tim Wheeler (114)
Unranked prospects: Jorge Bonifacio, Christian Colon, Juan Abreu, Jake Barrett, Cody Buckel, A.J. Griffin, Walker Weickel

The most consistent team in the BDBL, the Law Dogs also ranked #4 a year ago, and also ranked #4 in 2007, 2006, 2004 and 2000.  Chris Luhning managed to maintain this ranking despite trading Mike Moustakas, John Lamb, Drew Pomeranz and Archie Bradley over the past year, and despite the graduation of Aaron Crow to the big leagues.  The reason Kansas has been able to maintain such a lofty ranking is that Luhning has adopted the Paulson strategy of drafting top amateur talent, which keeps the cycle going year after year.  Bundy wasn't ranked a year ago, yet is now among the top 10 prospects in baseball despite the fact that he hasn't yet thrown a single professional pitch.  Cuthbert had also yet to play a professional inning at this time last year, but is now ranked #77 overall.  And Yelich and Grandal were both first-round picks in 2010, who jumped from #120 and #112 (respectively) a year ago to the top 50 this year.  I'm beginning to understand now why Tom wants to outlaw amateur draft picks.

#5 Southern Cal Slyme
Ranked prospects: Jacob Turner (17), Billy Hamilton (44), Jake Odorizzi (47), George Springer (64), Oscar Taveras (66), Casey Kelly (67), Yu Darvish (77), Taylor Jungmann (87), Noah Syndergaard (117), Alex Meyer (128)
Unranked prospects: Ronald Guzman, Tyler Pastornicky, Stryker Trahan, Lucas Giolito, Deck McGwire

The Slyme's #5 ranking is lower than it should be, given that only Baseball America ranked Darvish -- at #4 overall.  He would likely be ranked among the top ten by the other four experts, which would put the Slyme right behind the Locks in third place.  Baseball America's Executive Editor, Jim Callis, also wrote that if Giolito were eligible for their list this year, he would have ranked #26.  But it's all just a bunch of numbers anyway.  The purpose of this survey is to get a feel for the strength of a team's professional prospects in a particular snapshot in time, and a #5 ranking is nothing to sneeze at.  In fact, this is the highest ranking the Slyme franchise has ever achieved in 13 years, so that's something for Bob Sylvester to hang his hat on.  Even after all the wheeling and dealing by his son this off-season, Southern Cal still owns the better farm club...for now.

#6 Bear Country Jamboree
Ranked prospects: Drew Pomeranz (27), Francisco Lindor (28), Hak-Ju Lee (33), Matt Harvey (35), Garrett Richards (69), Cory Spangenberg (82), Chris Archer (85), Oswaldo Arcia (132)
Unranked prospects: Chun-Hsiu Chen, Tony Sanchez, Andrew Susac, Carlos Triunfel, Stetson Allie, Pat Corbin, Jeremy Jeffress, Yunesky Maya, Julio Rodriguez, Trevor Rosenthal, Karsten Whitson

The Jamboree franchise were once an annual mainstay at the bottom of the Farm Report.  For five straight years, from 2000-2004, Bear Country ranked no higher than 20th in this survey.  But Matt Clemm then acquired Kendry Morales in a trade with Salem, and the Jamboree finally cracked the bottom five.  That same year, Clemm selected a relatively unknown and unranked prospect named Francisco Liriano in the farm draft, and a year later he became the #4 prospect in baseball, and (along with Morales) carried the Jamboree all the way to #3 in this ranking.  Despite the graduations of both players to the majors, Bear Country remained in the top 10 the following season thanks to the rise of Homer Bailey, who also ranked #4 overall in 2007.  He, John Danks (#32) and Jason Hirsch (#33) formed a trio of young starting pitchers that many thought would carry the franchise for years to come.  But the wheels quickly fell off that bandwagon, and the Jamboree farm fell all the way to #23 in the 2008 ranking.  Since then, Clemm has been concentrating more on acquiring amateur talent, and that strategy has paid dividends with the appearances of Lindor and Harvey among the top 40.  He also picked up his team's top prospect by trading just one season of Dan Haren this past winter.  But the Jamboree farm also serves as a cautionary tale for those who concentrate too heavily on high-risk amateurs and international prospects with no US professional experience.  Sanchez, Allie and Jeffress are all former MLB first-round draft picks, and Maya and Triunfel were once highly-touted international stars.

#7 Allentown Ridgebacks
Ranked prospects: Mike Trout (3), Manny Machado (5), Jake Marisnick (41), Gary Sanchez (48), Jedd Gyorko (73), Derek Norris (119)
Unranked prospects: Corey Dickerson, Kenny Diekroeger, Max Kepler, Taylor Motter, Trent Mummey, Tyler Saladino, Trevor Story, Brad Brach, Jose Vicente Campos,

As if it weren't depressing enough that the Ridgebacks own the best team in the BDBL, filled with cheap, young superstars at every position.  They also own one of the top seven greatest farm teams in the league, which includes not one, but TWO top-five prospects.  The good news is that the Ridgebacks can't play Ryan Braun, Mike Stanton, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jay Bruce and Mike Trout in the outfield all at the same time.  Machado was the result of one of Tom DiStefano's rare ventures into the amateur ranks.  And Tom being Tom, that one venture turned out to be more fortuitous than even he could have imagined at the time.  Although Machado's .261/.337/.426 career batting line (in 110 games) doesn't look like that of the #5 prospect in baseball, all the scouts seem to agree he's the next great shortstop in baseball.  And Trout's .338/.422/.508 line is only unimpressive if your name is Bobby Sylvester.  Of the unranked prospects on this roster, the only one who is likely to be ranked a year from now (and the only prospect likely to be rostered at all) is Allentown's #1 pick this winter, Story.  It is rare when the #2 overall pick of the farm draft doesn't show up on any of our expert's top 100 lists, but Tom expects a big year out of him this season.

#8 South Carolina Sea Cats
Ranked prospects: Taijuan Walker (18), Anthony Rendon (19), Manny Banuelos (23), Anthony Rizzo (38), Robbie Grossman (105), Alex Torres (111), Brody Colvin (122), Ryan Lavarnway (136)
Unranked prospects: Jeremy Baltz, Adrian Cardenas, Reese Havens, Alex Liddi, Taylor Lindsey, Jenrry Mejia

South Carolina has owned perhaps the best farm system in the league over the past five years.  Over the past four years, the Sea Cats' farm has produced a dozen top-30 prospects, including Ian Kennedy, Freddie Freeman, Buster Posey and Justin Smoak.  Unfortunately, the system has also produced its fair share of duds, including Aroldis Chapman, Chris Tillman, Fernando Martinez and Reid Brignac.  This year's squad appears to include two "sure things" in Walker and Rendon.  There are some who believe that Walker is the best pitching prospect in baseball not named Moore.  In terms of size, stuff and performance, he looks every bit like a future ace.  Like Mark Teixeira, Rendon put together an extraordinary college career that was shortened by injury in his junior year.  And like Teixeira, Rendon is expected to move quickly up the ladder, and could easily be the top prospect in baseball a year from now.  Banuelos needs to find the plate before he can become effective, but he has ace potential (which explains how he can be ranked #23 despite a walk rate of nearly 5 per 9 last season.)

#9 Granite State Lightning
Ranked prospects: Brett Jackson (37), Mike Olt (42), Trevor May (55), Dellin Betances (56), Michael Choice (57), Jonathan Schoop (84), Leonys Martin (90), Zack Cox (100), Matt Szczur (107), Matt Adams (110), Matt Davidson (119)
Unranked prospects: Kyle Parker, Andrew Brackman, Dillon Maples, Pat Venditte, Adam Warren

Of the ranked prospects on this roster, only Jackson, Betances and Schoop are carryovers from the Badger administration, so this farm club is the end result of an extensive winter purging by new GM Ryan Glander.  The Lighning farm conjures up the old debate over whether it is better to own one top-10 prospect or a dozen prospects in the 50-100 range.  None of the prospects on this roster appears poised to become a breakout superstar at any point in his career, but many of them have the potential to be good, useful players at some point in the near future.  In particular, Betances, May, Martin and Adams should contribute to Granite State as early as next season.  And if Choice, Cox and Szczur continue to develop, they could easily push their way into the top 50 by this time next year.  Just in case you were wondering (and I know Ryan is), of the prospects Granite State traded this winter, Jorge Soler would have been ranked #43 if he were eligible (according to BA's Jim Callis), Simon Castro was not ranked, Joe Wieland was ranked #96, and Keyvius Sampson was not ranked.

#10 St. Louis Apostles
Ranked prospects: Miguel Sano (15), Jarrod Parker (29), James Paxton (51), Wilin Rosario (70), Yoenis Cespedes (80), Luis Heredia (92), Joseph Wieland (96)
Unranked prospects: Alfredo Despaigne, Jorge Soler, Drew Ward, Nick Williams, Trey Williams, Kevin Gausman, Clinton Hollis, Lance McCullers, Keyvius Sampson

No one loves taking gambles on prospects more than Bobby Sylvester.  After spending the winter purging his team of all prospects (including Adeiny Hechevarria, Drew Pomeranz, Zack Cox, Trevor May, Travis Snider, Yonder Alonso, Jesus Montero, Anthony Gose, Mike Minor, Kyle Gibson, Jose Altuve, Matt Davidson and Mark Appel), Sylvester completely reloaded with high-risk/high-reward prospects, mostly from the international and amateur draft pools.  The current St. Louis farm consists of two Cuban refugees who have yet to play a single inning of US professional ball, one Cuban superstar who is still living in Cuba and allegedly has no plan to defect, three high school seniors, one high school junior, and one high school sophomore.  This is high-risk drafting to the extreme.  But one of those high-risk picks has already paid off in Sano, who is now ranked #15 after being drafted by Sylvester as a 16-year-old.  Paxton is the highest-ranked prospect among all the players who were available in this winter's farm draft.  Sylvester acquired him with the #5 overall pick as a "throw-in" in the Albert Pujols blockbuster.  Due to the timing of his signing, Cespedes was only named to one of our five expert's lists: #14 by Baseball America.  BA editor Jim Callis also stated that Soler would have ranked #43 had he been eligible.  So if we can assume that the other four experts would have ranked those two players similarly, that would give the Apostles 1,912 points, which would put them firmly in 4th place in this survey.

#11 Akron Ryche
Ranked prospects: Trevor Bauer (11), Travis d'Arnaud (15), Nick Castellanos (45), Eddie Rosario (88), Kolten Wong (96), John Hellweg (124), Drew Smyly (126), Matt Purke (137)
Unranked prospects: Jason Esposito, Travis Harrison, Levi Michael, Colin Moran, Erich Weiss, Jack Armstrong, Marcus Stroman

When you draft pitchers who are still freshmen in college, sometimes you end up with a Jack Armstrong, and every once in awhile you end up with a Trevor Bauer.  Despite pitching all of 25 innings as a professional (and racking up a 5.96 ERA in those innings), Bauer is ranked as the 11th best prospect in baseball following his selection as the 3rd overall pick in the draft last June.  GM DJ Shepard hopes lightning will strike again, as he's already wrapped up last year's Freshman of the Year, Colin Moran.  d'Arnaud is a big power-hitting catcher who may be Bauer's batterymate as early as 2014.  Rosario was Shepard's first-round pick (13th overall) this winter, and is one of the more interesting prospects on this team.  As a 19-year-old in the Appy League, he hit a whopping .337/.397/.670 with 21 homers in 270 at-bats.  But it was the Appy League, and it was Elizabethtown, and he did only hit 9 doubles along with all those bombs, so those numbers are a little suspicious.  Still interesting, nonetheless.

#12 New York Giants
Ranked prospects: Jesus Montero (7), Yonder Alonso (43), Anthony Gose (53), Jose Fernandez (122), Austin Hedges (141), Francisco Peguero (143)
Unranked prospects: Jason Castro, Brandon Crawford, Vicmal de la Cruz, Adeiny Hechevarria, Jose Iglesias, Ariel Ovando, Adonis Cardona, Kyle Crick, Jose Fernandez, Chad Jenkins, Chris Reed, Adrian Salcedo, Michael Wacha

A year ago, the Giants' farm system consisted of just one ranked prospect (Andy Oliver) and an odd collection of 16-year-old Latinos, toolsy bush leaguers, an overrated 16-year-old high school kid and a midget.  They've come a long way since then.  The top three ranked prospects in this system were all added during Jim Doyle's bizarre off-season self immolation.  Both Montero and Alonso have the potential to become the impact bats this franchise has needed since its inception, though neither player seems to have found a home defensively.  As for Gose, the speed/power combination is terrific, but scouts aren't sold on his ability to differentiate a ball from a strike.  The unranked list is filled with a combination of teenaged Latino lottery tickets and Ghosts from Prospects Past.  (Jason Castro?  Brandon Crawford?)

#13 Villanova Mustangs
Ranked prospects: Gary Brown (32), Jarred Cosart (58), Addison Reed (76), Chad Bettis (83), Aaron Hicks (90), Christian Bethancourt (130), Matt Dominguez (135)
Unranked prospects: JT Realmuto, Will Swanner, Drew Vettleson, Nick Weglarz, Brad Boxberger, Heath Hembree, Jason Knapp, Trevor Reckling, Peter Tago

Former Cowtipper Gary Brown hit an impressive .336/.407/.519, with 34 doubles, 13 triples, 14 homers and 53 stolen bases in his full-season debut.  But for some reason, he only made the top-20 on one expert's list (Goldstein's, at #18.)  Hard to believe 'Nova GM Tony Chamra was able to get the #32 prospect in baseball -- and Randall Delgado -- for part-time utility infielder Matt Downs.  I guess Tom was making up for all those lopsided Allentown/Villanova trades of the past.  I don't really get the whole Jarred Cosart thing.  He averaged 6.6 K's per nine as a 21-year-old in the Florida State League, and then averaged 5.5 K/9 in seven Texas League starts -- all while averaging more than three walks per nine.  Meh.  Reed is an exciting young bullpen arm with closer potential.  I'd rank him higher than Cosart.  And Bettis posted some impressive numbers (2.4 BB/9, 9.8 K/9) in a very tough ballpark in a very tough hitter's league.  I'd rank him higher than Cosart, too.  in fact, I wouldn't even rank Cosart.  But that's just me.

#14 New Milford Blazers
Ranked prospects: Matt Moore (2), Nate Eovaldi (88), Taylor Guerreri (111), Blake Swihart (113), Enny Romero (130), Chris Dwyer (133)
Unranked prospects: Byron Buxton, Phillips Castillo, Oscar Hernandez, Josh Sale, Elvis Araujo, Max Fried, Parker Markel, Justin Nicolino, Tyoshi Wada

Who's ready for "The Franchise, Part Two: Electric Boogaloo?"  C'mon, show of hands.  Just one?  The sky's the limit for the newest lefty phenom out of New Milford.  It's the feel-good story of the decade, really.  It's sort of ironic that the Blazers' second-best prospect is a guy I dumped last year.  Peburn is even paying him $500K more than I was when I dumped him.  One man's trash is another's treasure, I guess.  It was really nice of Tony Chamra to give Peburn his #1 farm pick (which Peburn then used to draft Buxton, the best high school hitter in the 2012 draft class) as a "throw-in" along with five other players.  I'm sure Peburn wouldn't have traded Yovani Gallardo if that pick hadn't been thrown in.  Better safe than sorry.

#15 Chicago Black Sox
Ranked prospects: Jean Segura (54), Javier Baez (68), Allen Webster (80), Joe Ross (94), Andrelton Simmons (99), Kyle Gibson (124), C.J. Cron (128), Anthony Ranaudo (138)
Unranked prospects: Wilmer Flores, Reymond Fuentes, Brian Johnson, Tommy Joseph, Matt Lipka, Casey Crosby

When you trade Brett Lawrie, Devin Mesaraco, Gavin Cecchini, Jarrod Parker, Brandon Belt, Jesus Montero, Yonder Alonso, Travis Snider and Anthony Gose all in one winter, your farm club is bound to suffer.  And suffer it has, as the 'Sox have fallen out of the top ten for the first time since 2008.  In fact, this is the lowest the Chicago farm system has ever ranked!  Although the rankings say that Segura (a speedy, glove-first, shortstop) is the team's best prospect, I personally like Baez, Webster and Ross much better.  Baez only has five games of pro experience so far, but scouting reports suggest that he could be a special hitter.  His biggest problem is his attitude -- which also happened to be Hanley Ramirez's biggest problem at that age.  Webster had a fantastic year in the ultra-tough Cal League, but struggled a bit in Double-A.  And Ross has a tremendous arm, and could eventually develop into a frontline starter.

#16 Ravenswood Infidels
Ranked prospects: Will Myers (14), Brad Peacock (72)
Unranked prospects: Jackie Bradley, Jr., Vinnie Catricala, Jaff Decker, Conor Gillaspie, Francisco Martinez, Victor Roache, Wei-Yin Chen, Juan Oramas

Yep, only two ranked prospects.  And we still have eight teams to go.  Myers was a lot more impressive a year ago, when he hit .346/.453/.512 as a 19-year-old in High-A.  He took a huge step backward last year, hitting just .254/.353/.393, with just 8 homers, in the Texas League.  Supposedly, that drop-off was due to a knee injury.  And given that he was back to his old self in the Arizona Fall League, maybe it was to blame.  Peacock has had a decent career.  You might even say he should be proud of it.  Get it?  Of the unranked group, Chen has a chance to contribute at the MLB level this year, and Roache is ranked suspiciously low on MLB amateur draft lists after socking 30 homers in NCAA -- in a year where bat changes caused a huge drop-off in power.

#17 San Antonio Broncs
Ranked prospects: Archie Bradley (31), Brandon Jacobs (95), Daniel Corcino (101), Tyrell Jenkins (102), Jesse Biddle (104), Grant Green (117), Edward Salcedo (143)
Unranked prospects: Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Chris Owings, Marcell Ozuna, Guillermo Pimentel, A.J. Pollock, Cam Bedrosian, Rafael Dolis, Sean Gilmartin, Chance Ruffin, Alex Wimmers

GM Greg Newgard took some flak for trading "ace" Doug Fister for Anibal Sanchez and Archie Bradley just prior to Opening Day.  But Sanchez currently owns a lower ERA than Fister, and Bradley has the potential to be a frontline pitcher for years to come.  There was a huge discrepancy among our panel of experts regarding Bradley.  Keith Law (#19) and Jonathan Mayo (#20) were very high on him, Kevin Goldstein (#37) and Baseball America (#25) were a little less excited, and Rob Gordon (#80) was downright pessimistic.  Personally, I think that any 18-year-old kid who can reach triple digits on the radar gun deserves a high ranking.  After Bradley, there isn't a lot to get excited about on the Broncs farm.  In fact, because I don't have anything nice to say from here on, I think I just won't say anything at all.

#18 Las Vegas Flamingos
Ranked prospects: Tyler Skaggs (24), Robbie Erlin (79), Sammy Solis (133)
Unranked prospects: Bryan Anderson, Dante Bichette, Jr., Andrew Chafin, Bryan Henry, Matt Lollis, Michael Main, Roman Mendez, Brandon Workman

GM John Bochicchio is one of the league's last remaining holdouts -- a relic of a bygone era.  In the Dark Ages before Google, it was difficult to find information on high school and college players.  Most of the league simply ignored the amateur ranks altogether.  In the league's first farm draft in 1999, only one amateur player (Mark Mulder) was selected.  In 2000, only four college players (none from high school) were selected.  Over the next two years, the number of amateur players selected in the farm draft stabilized at four in 2001 and 3 in 2002.  Then, in 2003, the league's thirst for amateur talent suddenly exploded, and 32 amateurs (23 from college, 9 from high school) were selected in the farm draft.  Since then, it has become commonplace to see dozens of amateurs selected, both in the draft and at the Chapter Four transaction period.  But Johnny Bo has steadfastly remained loyal to professional talent only.  To date, Bochicchio has added only three amateur players to his roster: Brad Lincoln and Greg Reynolds in 2006, and Shooter Hunt in 2008.  As a result, the Flamingos farm system has broken the top ten in this survey (#10 in 2008) only once.  Not coincidentally, the Las Vegas franchise has surpassed 90 wins just once.  Come on, Johnny Bo, get in the game!

#19 Cleveland Rocks
Ranked prospects: Rymer Liriano (49), Trayvon Robinson (98)
Unranked prospects: Norichika Aoki, Neftali Soto, Tyler Anderson, Matt Barnes, Tyler Beede, Dillon Howard

Like the Flamingos, the Rocks' farm system has only cracked the top 10 once in 13 years, as they maxed out with a #10 ranking two years ago.  There's not much to say about this year's Cleveland crop.  Liriano managed to make Keith Law's top 40 (just barely at #40) after an impressive showing (.319/.383/.499, 12 HR, 65 SB) in the Midwest League last year.  Robinson posted some solid numbers (.293/.375/.563, 26 HR, 45 BB, 122 K's) in the Pacific Coast League, which was enough to impress Rob Gordon, who give Robinson a very generous ranking of #49.  Aoki will contribute to the Rocks in 2013; the only question is how much he will contribute.  Beede failed to sign after being drafted in the first round last June, so the Rocks will have to wait three more years before he can play pro ball.

#20 Mississippi Meatballs
Ranked prospects: John Lamb (86), Neil Ramirez (115)
Unranked prospects: David Dahl, Drake Britton, Simon Castro, Maikel Cleto, Christian Friedrich, Kyle Heckathorne, Tyler Matsek, Trey McNutt, Nestor Molina, Daniel Norris, Andrew Oliver, Jake Sisco, Matt Smoral, Tyler Thornberg, Yordano Ventura

This is quickly getting ugly.  The Meatballs farm club is filled with prospects who were once ranked in this survey, but have now lost their ranking.  Castro, Friedrich, Matsek, McNutt and Oliver all fit into this category.  Molina was a key part of the Sergio Santos trade, and after posting some sick numbers (108 IP, 14 BB, 115 K, 2.58 ERA) in the Florida State League last year, he could be a sleeper this year.  Dahl is likely to be an early first-round draft pick in June, and is reported to be the best pure hitter in the class.  And Norris was hyped as one of the top left-handed pitchers in the Class of 2011, but fell to the second round after questions of signability.  He ended up signing for a $2 million bonus.  The reason I haven't mentioned the ranked prospects is because they aren't really worth mentioning.

#21 Sylmar Padawans
Ranked prospects: Drew Hutchison (92), Jed Bradley (103)
Unranked prospects: Lars Anderson, Isaac Galloway, Reggie Golden, Miguel Gonzalez, Trevor Gretzky, Hunter Morris, Connor Narron, Thomas Neal, Brandon Nimmo, Sebastian Valle, B.A. Vollmuth, Tanner Bushue, Victor Sanchez, Asher Wojciechowski

As I've pointed out above, drafting high school and college kids can generate terrific results and give you a farm club that is brimming with top prospects.  But it's a high-risk venture, and this strategy doesn't always work in your favor.  Case in point: the Sylmar Padawans.  The Sylmar farm is littered with young players drafted from the amateur ranks who just didn't pan out.  Guys like Galloway, Golden, Morris, Narron and Nimmo were all highly-touted amateurs at one point, but none were talented enough to appear on any of our five experts' lists.  Of course, Narron and Nimmo haven't even seen a single pitch at the pro level yet, so we should cut them some slack.  On the plus side, Hutchison looks like a future ace to me.  He rocketed up the system last year, and has compiled career minor league numbers (218 IP, 171 H, 54 K, 234 BB, 2.52 ERA) that look Roy Halladayish.  And yet, only one of our experts (Keith Law) ranked Hutchison among his top 100 (at #42.)  What more does a fella need to do to get some love??

#22 Corona Confederates
Ranked prospects: Zack Cozart (115), Tim Beckham (138)
Unranked prospects: Bobby Borchering, Anthony Hewitt, Luis Jimenez, Jiovanni Mier, Rougned Odor, Brandon Snyder, Matt Sweeney, Andrew Cashner, J.J. Hoover, Chad James, Nick Maronde, John Stilson, Jason Stoffel

At age 25, Cozart doesn't have a lot of upside, but I have heard his name mentioned a few times as someone who has a shot at winning the NL Rookie of the Year this year.  A career .270/.332/.421 hitter in the minors, I guess he's decent enough for a shortstop.  And speaking of shortstops, how far has Beckham's star fallen since he was selected #1 overall in the 2008 MLB draft?  Beckham was ranked as high as #28 the year after he was drafted (which just demonstrates the foolishness of ranking a player so high based on nothing but scouting reports.)

#23 Salem Cowtippers
Ranked prospects: Mikie Mahtook (126)
Unranked prospects: Albert Almora, Carlos Correa, Brian Goodwin, Elier Hernandez, Helsin Martinez, Joe Panik, Addison Russell, Ravel Santana, Chris Beck, Kyuji Fujikawa, Erik Hamren, Kelvin Herrera, David Holmberg, Hisashi Iwakuma, Barret Loux, Wade Miley, Zach Putnam

Sigh.  For 11 straight years, the Cowtippers owned the annual Farm Report year in and year out.  But after 11 straight top-10 rankings, Salem's farm dropped all the way from #6 to #20 last year.  And now this.  The problem is that I let my guard down.  The Class of 2011 is being called one of the greatest draft classes ever, and the huge number of players from that class who now occupy a spot in the top 100 is evidence of that proclamation.  But I came late to that party -- so late that by the time I began looking at top prospects from that class, they were already taken by other teams.  However, it's not as if the Salem farm system hasn't produced top-100 prospects in the past year.  Gary Brown (#32), Jake Marisnick (#41), Mike Olt (#42), Gary Sanchez (#48), Michael Choice (#58), Nate Eovaldi (#88) and Joe Wieland (#96) were all members of the Salem farm system at some point during the past year.  But like nearly every Salem prospect throughout history, all seven were traded away.  It's not easy being the Johnny Appleseed of the BDBL, but someone has to do it.

#24 Great Lakes Sphinx
Ranked prospects: NONE
Unranked prospects: Jose Dariel Abreu, Jeimer Candelario, Jordan Danks, Josh Donaldson, Mat Gamel, Marco Hernandez, Daryl Jones, Junior Lake, D.J. LeMahieu, Christian Lopes, Austin Romine, Dan Vogelbach, Gerardo Concepcion, Dae-Eun Rhee

The last -- and only -- time a team's farm didn't have a single ranked player was our very first BDBL Farm Draft Report back in 2000.  That team was the Boise Bastards, whose farm consisted of Buddy Yen, Carlos Mendez, Carlos Paredes, Corey Thurman, Derrick Turnbow and Joseph Delgado.  I didn't know who any of those guys were back then, and I still have no idea.  The 2012 Sphinx farm system is truly an embarrassment.  It's as if GM Scott Romonosky isn't even trying.  Some teams can make the excuse that their unranked prospects aren't eligible to be ranked, or that they haven't had enough experience yet to be ranked.  But the Sphinx can't use either excuse.  None of the unranked prospects on this team are likely to be ranked a year from now.  The only excuse that can be made is that the Sphinx did own some top-100 prospects this winter (Yonder Alonso, Matt Szczur and Mike Olt), but traded them in an effort to defend their wild card title this season.  This is the franchise's third last-place finish in this survey in the past five years, and next year isn't looking so hot, either.