Farm System Rankings

[Fish Oil]

https://www.mlb.com/news/2020-farm-system-rankings
 

They seem unimpressed by what we have to offer.

[Revad]

23 minutes ago, Fish Oil said:

https://www.mlb.com/news/2020-farm-system-rankings
 

They seem unimpressed by what we have to offer.

I know I’m a homer and the system is missing some pieces (or layers?) but this seems extreme...

26) Los Angeles Angels
2019 preseason rank: unranked
2019 midseason rank: unranked
Top 100 Prospects: Jo Adell, OF (No. 6), Brandon Marsh, OF (No. 79)
Top 2020 rookie: Jo Adell, OF
Starting with the two guys at the top, this organization has a lot of toolsy, athletic types that are of the high-risk, high-reward variety

[beatlesrule]

[Justin]

It seems a little low, but these things ebb and flow. Canning, Thaiss, Rengifo, and Suarez all made their debuts in 2019. 

[Docwaukee]

we'll see how things go.  I hope they're wrong.  Fortunately, they usually are.  

I like our farm system but it really is quite the crapshoot at this point.  So many boom or bust guys in the lower levels and not much in AA/AAA outside of Marsh and Adell.  

It's pretty easy to rank out system low because it's not like they're gonna feed a ton of new talent to the big league club this year.  A lot of that has already graduated and the next wave is a couple years away at least.  

Even if they do make some major strides this year (which they very well could), that's all the pundits will have to say in their next publication.  It is a little bit of an odd ranking though considering that they rank a system like cleveland so high based on a similar profile of having a lot of the top guys at age 20 or younger.   

Truly though, if the system doesn't make a decent jump this year and the major league club doesn't make a playoff push, Billy is going to be looking for a new job.  

[Angelsjunky]

How many years have we be saying "not much in AA/AAA outside of Player A and maybe Player B?"

How long have we been saying "lots of toolsy, athletic guys who are boom or bust?"

Is any of that translating? At all? Maybe this is the year....

...or maybe next...

[wopphil]

I agree with the ranking. Our farm is weak. We have little/no pitching, and little talent in the upper minors. But we have a number of good young players on the ML roster that should hopefully make us less reliant on the farm for the next few years (thus providing time to build the farm back up).

[Blarg]

Right now, unless you are a pitcher, there is not much room on the parent club. That is truly where the Angels farm needs a shot in the arm. This upcoming draft really needs to focus on their biggest weakness because free agency isn't netting them a top arm. 

[nate]

It is what it is, a lot of guys have been promoted to the bigs in the last year.

Like @Blarg said, the big need is pitching.  Hopefully they draft a boatload of pitchers and immediately get them bionic UCLs.

[JBR]

I’m a bit shocked that a system with Adell is ranked nearly worst in the majors. Gives me an uneasy feeling that we’ll be on the outside looking in come October because we just don’t have the reinforcements a playoff team needs.

[19HALO71]

I blame Reagins.

Go Halos!!!

[floplag]

Yeah thats, ... brutal.
I would have thought somewhere mid pack, not bottom third. 
 

[Angel Oracle]

1 hour ago, 19HALO71 said:

I blame Reagins, Dumbpoto, and Clay "skim" Daniels.

Go Halos!!!

FIFY

[TroutCron]

To me, the Angels lack the quality player development that the top farms have. With the exception of the Dogs the teams at the top have consistently top five draft picks. The Angels have been picking middle of the pack for most of the century, therefore the need for quality player development is vital. They need to draft high ceiling pitchers and catchers. Mostly, Eppler and the Farm Directors must be held accountable for the lack of quality throughout the system despite the last four horrible years. 

[Reveille1984]

The "picking middle of the pack" thing isn't a valid excuse anymore.  There's 40 rounds in an MLB draft, and maybe a handful of guys every year are "can't miss" prospects.   Other historically good MLB teams don't have the barren wasteland of pitching that we do.

We just aren't good at developing young pitching.  That mixed with our supreme bad luck (player deaths, surgeries, injuries, etc.) and this is what you get.

[floplag]

25 minutes ago, Reveille1984 said:

The "picking middle of the pack" thing isn't a valid excuse anymore.  There's 40 rounds in an MLB draft, and maybe a handful of guys every year are "can't miss" prospects.   Other historically good MLB teams don't have the barren wasteland of pitching that we do.

We just aren't good at developing young pitching.  That mixed with our supreme bad luck (player deaths, surgeries, injuries, etc.) and this is what you get.

I kinda feel like the idea of "developing" young pitching is a bit of a myth, or at least largely over stated.  
How many young guys that were way under the radar developed into a stud versus how many were simply misjudged early on by scouts?
Most of the studs were studs from the get go.
Lets not forget how many people passed on Trout for us to get him after all.
Team tank for the virtual guarantee, or as close to it as it gets. 

[mmc]

I’ve been told Eppler can’t be blamed for the last 4 losing seasons because our farm has made massive strides.  What do you mean we’re only ranked 26?

[kevinb]

These rankings are a little disappointing but at the end of the day they don't mean much. Players come out of no where all the time and succeed. Adell wasn't the number 1 pick but he has a really good shot at winning Rookie of the Year this year. Like others have said a lot of our younger guys are up here already to help up the big league club so that could have some affect on the rankings, but definitely would have preferred the Angels to be middle of the road if not top 10.   

[tdawg87]

MLB.com is pretty much the ESPN of prospect rankings. This would be the case even if our system were ranked in the top 10.

[tdawg87]

7 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

I’ve been told Eppler can’t be blamed for the last 4 losing seasons because our farm has made massive strides.  What do you mean we’re only ranked 26?

I'll leave the murdering to IP.

[Reveille1984]

1 minute ago, floplag said:

I kinda feel like the idea of "developing" young pitching is a bit of a myth, or at least largely over stated.  
How many young guys that were way under the radar developed into a stud versus how many were simply misjudged early on by scouts?
Most of the studs were studs from the get go.
Lets not forget how many people passed on Trout for us to get him after all.
Team tank for the virtual guarantee, or as close to it as it gets. 

Then what can it be chalked up to?  Let's look at some SP WAR "studs" from 2019 and their overall draft position:

Cole - 1 Overall

deGrom - 272 Overall

Lynn - 39 Overall

Scherzer - 11 Overall

Verlander - 2 Overall

Morton - 95 Overall

Strasburg - 1 Overall

Bieber - 122 Overall

Giolito - 16 Overall

Buehler - 22 Overall

Corbin - 80 Overall

Flaherty - 34 Overall

There's three top-3 picks on there, mixed with a lot of guys from all over the first, second and third rounds (deGrom being an outlier).  This myth that you need a top 5 pick or that you need to be the worst team in the league to draft decent pitching has no verifiable proof behind it.

Hell, I'd take a 2-3 WAR guy , I'm not even looking for top 15 arms at this point.

 

[floplag]

1 minute ago, Reveille1984 said:

Then what can it be chalked up to?  Let's look at some SP WAR "studs" from 2019 and their overall draft position:

Cole - 1 Overall

deGrom - 272 Overall

Lynn - 39 Overall

Scherzer - 11 Overall

Verlander - 2 Overall

Morton - 95 Overall

Strasburg - 1 Overall

Bieber - 122 Overall

Giolito - 16 Overall

Buehler - 22 Overall

Corbin - 80 Overall

Flaherty - 34 Overall

There's three top-3 picks on there, mixed with a lot of guys from all over the first, second and third rounds (deGrom being an outlier).  This myth that you need a top 5 pick or that you need to be the worst team in the league to draft decent pitching has no verifiable proof behind it.

Hell, I'd take a 2-3 WAR guy , I'm not even looking for top 15 arms at this point.

 

Well thats a whole other discussion isnt it.  If were talking aces versus mid rotation types.

 

[Reveille1984]

Even amongst those aces listed, only three are top ten picks.  You can find good pitching all over the place.

[floplag]

15 minutes ago, Reveille1984 said:

Even amongst those aces listed, only three are top ten picks.  You can find good pitching all over the place.

Again though the discussion was about developing it.  To me thats more along the lines of guys that were not expected to be much that ended up being it.  Which is to say a lot fewer guys.   I guess it depends on how you define developing. 

[Stradling]

What it comes down to is the success rate of drafting pitchers in the first round.  I’d assume there are many more flops than with position players.