Baseball America updated their farm system rankings on Monday morning and the Pittsburgh Pirates are now among the elite in baseball for minor league talent. BA has them ranked fourth overall, trailing just three American League teams, the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals. One year ago, the Pirates ranked 22nd overall for BA.
BA noted that other teams have better top prospects, but few teams in baseball can match the depth of the Pirates. BA recently updated their top 100 list and they have five Pirates ranked between 29th and 82nd on that list. They are (in order) Oneil Cruz, Henry Davis, Quinn Priester, Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero.
The San Francisco Giants are the next highest rated National League team (fifth overall) and the Cincinnati Reds are the second best in the NL Central, ranking eighth overall. The rest of the NL Central has the St Louis Cardinals 20th, Milwaukee Brewers 22nd and Chicago Cubs 24th.
