The Pittsburgh Pirates ranked 27th in Baseball America’s latest farm system rankings. For an organization dependent on building from within, this is not good.
I can’t argue with the rankings. Part of that is because I don’t follow the other organizations, and trust Baseball America to provide an accurate and objective comparison of the systems. There are a few players in the system who I’m higher on than BA, but this doesn’t look like a system stocked with talent.
Granted, the Pirates have graduated some top prospects this season. That hasn’t stopped an organization like the Baltimore Orioles from continuously developing players to maintain a top system ranking.