One of our wonderful There R Giants’ readers mentioned in a recent Mailbag that it was rankings season again, with most of the major outlets publishing new Top 30s across baseball recently. Here, for instance, is the publicly available list that just came out from MLB (written by friend of the site, Jim Callis).
Along with the system rankings, we’re also getting a new rack and stack look at how the organizations compare to each other — and that’s something that I think is always an important moment for a site like mine. Here we are so laser focused on everything Giants, down to the tiniest, furthest away detail (I mean, you, fair readers, all know who Jose Rengel is by now!) that there’s always a serious “forest for the trees” effect going on at my sight. Our understanding of the Giants’ system is so deep, but it lacks context because we talk so little of what is going on in other systems. I often see folks on social media complaining that the Giants’ system is ranked too low (“It’s clearly Top 5!”), and my immediate response in my mind to those commenters is: “can you name three prospects from all of the other 29 orgs? And if not, what is your basis for the claim?”
I probably can do that, but I’ll admit my understanding of the strength of other organizations — especially the ones who play in other, non-Giants leagues whose affiliates I never see — is still pretty shallow. Consequently, I put a lot of weight in the highly informed contextual views of outlets like Baseball America and MLB.
And, what we see from that context right now is that the Giants continue to be seen — as they mostly have been for several years — as part of the vast middle tier of baseball’s farm systems. Not elite. Not barren. Promising but with plenty of question marks and/or weaknesses. Baseball America’s mid-season org rankings put the Giants at #19. MLB had them ever so slightly higher at #14.
Here’s the thumbnail sketch of the system from the good folks at MLB:
Harrison and Luciano continue to headline a system that has graduated Luis Matos, Casey Schmitt, and Patrick Bailey to San Francisco this year. The Giants nevertheless moved up three spots in the rankings, in part because they added impact talents such as first baseman/right-hander Bryce Eldridge and shortstop Walker Martin from the Draft and outfielder Rayner Arias on the international market. Two mid-round picks from 2022 -- sixth-round right-hander Hayden Birdsong and eighth-round outfielder Wade Meckler -- quickly emerged as two of the best prospects in the organization.
Part of the reason for the middling ranking is good news: the Giants graduated several players off their list this year: Patrick Bailey, Luis Matos, Casey Schmitt, Tristan Beck, Ryan Walker are all no longer prospect eligible. Attrition from graduation is a good thing (though admittedly, it would be a better thing had a couple more of those players stuck in the majors and proved themselves to be capable big leaguers going forward. Part of the reason, however, is that, while there is depth in this system, it’s still far from clear if this farm is going to produce many starting major leaguers, much less star talent major leaguers.
There have been a lot of good stories on the farm recently — even some great ones (I think of Walker’s rise as a great development story for sure, and Bailey’s has been extraordinary). But, as we see in MLB’s rankings, much of the next major wave of talent lies in teenagers at the very bottom of the minor leagues, starting the long haul all over again, even as we’re still waiting for Luciano’s real arrival.
I think we can say that, five years into the Zaidi Era, we’re still quite a long way from the stated goal of having a top tier farm system or anything like a conveyor belt of talent that can keep feeding and refreshing the big league roster, as much as the farm has been a major part of the story of 2023.
HITTER of the NIGHT: Grant McCray (Eug), 3 for 4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HBP
PITCHER of the NIGHT: Manuel Mercedes (SJ), 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K
Now let’s check out some scenes from a wild night around the farm.
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