Even if you aren’t a prospect geek who spends hours analyzing the minor league box scores or studying the scouting reports provided by Baseball America and other similar websites, this shouldn’t come as a major surprise.
Given what general manager Jerry Dipoto inherited from his predecessor Jack Zduriencik, followed by the trading of the handful of talented players still remaining in the system, the Mariners’ farm system has ranged from bad to awful in terms of talent and depth for the last five years.
But now, it’s fallen to a whole new level. On Friday, Baseball America — one of the preeminent publications dealing with prospects and minor league systems — released its list of the Mariners’ top 10 prospects (subscription required for full content) and in the process revealed that the Mariners will be rated 30th of 30 teams in their farm system rankings.