Nick Piecoro

azcentral sports

Last week, Baseball America released the midseason edition of its Top 100 prospects, a list that is a sort of snapshot of how the industry views minor-league talent throughout the 30 organizations.

Right-hander Braden Shipley, at No. 63, was the Diamondbacks’ only representative. Baseball America described him as the “hope for the future” while calling the club’s farm system “very barren.” That might be harsh, but a panel of industry sources says it’s not far off.

According to rival scouts who have seen the system as well as high-ranking executives familiar with how their club’s evaluators view Diamondbacks’ prospects, the picture is bleak. The sources, who are comprised of seven different major-league organizations, say the Diamondbacks do not have much impact talent on the way.

They see Shipley as a potential mid-rotation option, though many say he might fit more near the back of the rotation, an assessment Diamondbacks officials have said on the record in the past. The rival evaluators see fellow Triple-A Reno pitcher Anthony Banda in a similar light. Many believe Double-A Mobile third baseman Dawel Lugo has a chance to be an everyday player, but he is less proven.

MORE:Shelby Miller strikes out 10 in Triple-A

Beyond that, the scouts and executives say, the Diamondbacks have a system more about quantity than quality, a collection of back-end starters and relievers alongside utility men and other position players who have questions about their ultimate role.

“Their system is unquestionably below-average,” an executive with an American League club said.

The Diamondbacks are in this position for a number of reasons. The organization has recently graduated a pair of high-end prospects in infielder Brandon Drury and right-hander Archie Bradley.

But the Diamondbacks have made a series of moves that have hurt their prospect base. Each of their past two first-round picks, right-hander Touki Toussaint (2014) and shortstop Dansby Swanson (2015), have been dealt; both rank among Baseball America’s Top 100, Swanson at No. 7 and Toussaint at No. 95. They forfeited this year’s first-round pick after signing right-hander Zack Greinke.

MORE:Greinke frustrated by slow injury progress

The signing of right-hander Yoan Lopez, who cost the team upwards of $16 million and thus far has been a disappointment, meant having to sit out back-to-back international signing periods, further inhibiting the flow of high-end talent into the system.

The Diamondbacks do not believe their system is “barren.” They have been trying to dispel such notions since spring training, disputing the idea that they have gone “all-in” with their current core of players and insisting there’s more talent on the way.

Scouts have been wrong before – nearly the entire industry whiffed on Paul Goldschmidt – and, because this is baseball, they are almost certain to be wrong again when it comes to some of the Diamondbacks’ current prospects.

But if the Diamondbacks believe they are an addition or two away from contending in 2017 – an outlook that’s not considered far-fetched by several rival evaluators – the industry’s opinion on their prospects could end up mattering.

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With next offseason’s free-agent class looking especially thin, the club might be forced to explore the trade market to plug its holes. In that event, they might not have the ammunition required to land, say, a dependable starter or a shutdown reliever.

“It’s going to be tough,” a scout with a National League club said. “I would guess for them to do that, they would have to deal from their major-league team. Their system doesn’t have enough. They don’t really have impact players. When I say impact, impact to me on the scouting scale is an everyday grade or above. Like a 50 (on the 20-to-80 scouting scale) is an average everyday guy. They have very few of those guys.”

If the Diamondbacks trade from their big-league roster, it likely would mean dealing away an infielder such as Drury. But, as several rival evaluators note, such a trade would be a blow to their depth, and the Diamondbacks have seen with their outfield this season how crippling a lack of depth can be after an injury or two.

“Ultimately, that’s what it’s going to take, moving some of those big-league guys,” a second AL executive said. “It feels to me like the minor-league pieces are inventory as opposed to high-ceiling guys that others teams are going to get excited about.”

Along those lines, the Diamondbacks have several players who intrigue rival scouts, but they believe many have limited ceilings. Several say rookie Socrates Brito might be a fourth outfielder and that Reno’s Jack Reinheimer and Mobile’s Domingo Leyba could profile as bench players.

Reno’s Mitch Haniger is considered a fourth outfielder by some while others view him an “up/down” guy, a player who can only occasionally hold down a big-league job during a season. Mobile right-hander Taylor Clarke receives solid reviews but hasn’t been so impressive as to project as a mid-rotation starter.

A scout with an AL club pointed to the situation with the Los Angeles Angels as a cautionary tale. The Angels have given up multiple high picks to sign free agents and have traded the few prospects they had to augment the big-league team. They’re now left with what is widely viewed as the worst farm system in the majors while their big-league club is nine games under .500, 11 1/2 games out of first in the AL West.

“You have to be very careful,” the scout said. “At what point do you say, ‘We’re all in?’ What are you willing to sacrifice if you’re trying to win now? That’s what every team has to go through. If you go for it and you miss, you put yourself in a bad position for the long term.”

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.

Friday’s game

Diamondbacks at Reds

When: 4:10 p.m.

Where: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati.

Pitchers: Diamondbacks RHP Archie Bradley (3-5, 4.37) vs. Reds RHP Dan Straily (4-6, 4.07).

TV/Radio: FSAZ/KTAR-AM (620), KSUN-AM (1400).

Bradley has logged quality starts in four of his past six outings. Most recently, he gave up one run in six innings in a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers. … Bradley has a 3.51 ERA on the road and a 5.15 ERA at home. … He has struggled against left-handed hitters, who have a .285/.375/.508 line against him. … Straily was claimed off waivers by the Reds on April 1. He had been traded from the Astros to the Padres a few days earlier. … He has been the Reds’ most consistent starter, logging a team-high 108 1/3 innings. … He has thrown well in his past three starts, including tossing seven shutout innings against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.

Coming up

Saturday: At Cincinnati, 4:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Robbie Ray (5-8, 4.49) vs. Reds RHP Keyvius Sampson (0-1, 5.51).

Sunday: At Cincinnati, 10:10 a.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zack Godley (2-1, 5.31) vs. Reds LHP Brandon Finnegan (5-7, 4.66).

Monday: At Milwaukee, 4:20 p.m., Diamondbacks TBA vs. Brewers RHP Chase Anderson (4-10, 5.50).

Up next: Cincinnati Reds

Reds update: The Reds enter the weekend having lost 20 of their past 30 games. They have the worst pitching staff in the National League, with a 5.32 ERA and a staggering 161 home runs allowed, 40 more than the next closest team. Their offense isn’t great, either, averaging 4.22 runs per game, the sixth-lowest mark in the league. The Reds are in the early stages of a rebuild, so their struggles aren’t surprising. One bright spot has been LF Adam Duvall, who has 23 homers and 64 RBIs. They picked him up at the trade deadline last year in the RHP Mike Leake trade. 1B Joey Votto has overcome a slow start to post solid numbers, including a .271/.404/.475 line. The Reds rank dead last in both starters’ ERA and bullpen ERA.