MLB Pipeline released their updated list of the top 30 Pittsburgh Pirates prospects on Wednesday afternoon. They also ranked the Pirates as the eighth best farm system in baseball.
Pipeline is releasing their list of the top ten farm systems in baseball, counting down towards the first overall spot, so we don’t have the full rankings yet. We can compare the eighth place finish here to other rankings previously released. Kiley McDaniel at ESPN has the Pirates ranked as the fourth best system in baseball. Baseball America and Keith Law released their lists about an hour apart so they’re both in the same link here. Law ranked them 16th overall, while BA has the Pirates 13th overall. Both noted that the system is one on the rise. A little quick math will tell you that the Pirates average out to the tenth best system in baseball.
As for the updated top 30 list, there doesn’t seem to be any real surprises here. We already knew the top four were Ke’Bryan Hayes, Nick Gonzales, Quinn Priester and Oneil Cruz, because those four all made Pipeline’s top 100 prospects list. Liover Peguero also got mentioned as a player considered for the list, so we also knew he was ranked fifth overall. After that (in order), Pipeline has Hudson Head, Tahnaj Thomas, Brennan Malone, Travis Swaggerty and Cody Bolton rounding out the top ten. Our own person highest ranked player not on their list isn’t even eligible for their list. Pipeline uses all Rookie of the Year standards, but we don’t use service time, so JT Brubaker is still eligible on our list, but not on their list. You can see Pipeline’s full list and reports on each player in the link at the top of this article.
