Updated Farm System Rankings for Every MLB Team At the Start of 2020

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Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images The following factors helped determine the placement of players and teams in our updated MLB farm system rankings here at the start of 2020:

Potential (Player): Potential trumps production a lot of the time, especially in the lower levels of the minors and with recent draft picks. Skill sets and tools are often better indications of what kind of player someone will be.

Potential trumps production a lot of the time, especially in the lower levels of the minors and with recent draft picks. Skill sets and tools are often better indications of what kind of player someone will be. Talent (Player): As for guys in the higher levels of the minors who are close to breaking through to the big leagues, production and talent are the determining factors, as these players are viewed as more complete products.

As for guys in the higher levels of the minors who are close to breaking through to the big leagues, production and talent are the determining factors, as these players are viewed as more complete products. Overall Depth (Team): Having one or two elite prospects is great, but a deep farm system is the way to build a sustainable contender. Depth and talent were the biggest factors in ranking each team.

Having one or two elite prospects is great, but a deep farm system is the way to build a sustainable contender. Depth and talent were the biggest factors in ranking each team. High-End Talent (Team): That being said, there is a difference between a prospect who has a chance of making an impact at the big league level and a prospect who could be a star. Elite prospects served as a tiebreaker of sorts when two teams were close in the rankings.

A tier system is used to help differentiate the varying levels of individual talent.

Tier 1/Top 100 Prospects: Prospects who have elite skill sets and All-Star potential. This is the cream of the prospect crop . These players are identified by where they will fall in our first top 100 prospect list of the year, which will be released later in the offseason.

Prospects who have elite skill sets and All-Star potential. This is the cream of the prospect crop Tier 2: Prospects who have a good chance of becoming impact contributors at the MLB level. These are the guys who were in consideration for spots on the leaguewide top-100 list and could eventually end up there.



Prospects who have a good chance of becoming impact contributors at the MLB level. These are the guys who were in consideration for spots on the leaguewide top-100 list and could eventually end up there. Tier 3: Prospects who profile as fringe MLB contributors or young players who are still too raw to project any higher. This tier represents the bulk of prospects around baseball, though more than a few are capable of climbing to the next tier.

Teams were initially ranked based on the number of Tier 1 and Tier 2 prospects in their systems, and then the rankings were subjectively tweaked from there.

Note: A player must not have passed the rookie-eligibility limits (130 AB, 50 IP, 45 days on an active roster prior to Sept. 1) to be included in these rankings.

