AngelsWin.com's Los Angeles Angels 2021 Top-30 Prospects

[Second Base]

Going back to college to play football?

[Second Base]

My guess is he's going to be a NRI at ST. 

Or he's been traded to Colorado.

[BTH]

12 minutes ago, Second Base said:

Going back to college to play football?

I mean, that'd be kind of insane and a huge blow to the Angels. I don't recall a high-profile prospect switching professional sports after playing a couple years professionally.

[Second Base]

Just now, Trendon said:

I mean, that'd be kind of insane and a huge blow to the Angels. I don't recall a high-profile prospect switching professional sports after playing a couple years professionally.

Russell Wilson wasn't high profile but he did it. 

[T.G.]

LOL

[BTH]

2 minutes ago, Second Base said:

My guess is he's going to be a NRI at ST. 

oooh, that's a really good call. That's probably it.

This is around the time when he'd find out, and it would be his first year as a NRI.

[Second Base]

But again, I still think it's something minor. He's probably getting a chance to go to big league camp. 

[Angelsjunky]

Man, I hope he isn't playing football.

[Chuck]

He had an invite last March and played in a handful of games. Looked lost at the plate. 

[Second Base]

1 minute ago, Angelsjunky said:

Man, I hope he isn't playing football.

Could be. The kid loves football. Even after he was drafted, he shares videos on YouTube of him and his friends playing football, and his Twitter, in it's most active days was mostly football and BLM stuff. 

[Second Base]

But the guy that said congrats is a financial consultant in Denver. Hard to make anything of it. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Second Base

[BTH]

3 minutes ago, Second Base said:

But the guy that said congrats is be a financial consultant in Denver. Hard to make anything of it. 

The guy that said congrats is also following Jordyn Adams' dad. I'd assume that the Jeff Davis guy is just a friend of Jordyn Adams' dad. I don't think Colorado has anything to do with it.

[Vlad27Trout27]

Interesting that they have Ortega in the top 10. He broke out in 2019 and did struggle in AA with command. It'll be intesesting to see where he is now, a stater or a Bp Arm?

It'll all depend on the command. 

[Chuck]

I completely disagree with Baseball America's assessment of our farm system who ranked us 22nd. 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2021-mlb-organization-talent-rankings/

[Stradling]

Anyone have a complete list of where all 30 farm systems rank.

[Docwaukee]

12 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I completely disagree with Baseball America's assessment of our farm system who ranked us 22nd. 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2021-mlb-organization-talent-rankings/

that's the easy way out with publications that don't spend time on the lower levels.  Our system is still thin in the upper level which is what most look at but there's a ton of upside.  A year is gonna make a huge difference and losing the 2020 minor league season didn't do us any favors.  

[Angels in 2030]

it's pretty disappointing though that we moved out of the rock bottom a few years back to get into the middle (or better) from most publications -- only to fall back the last couple years somewhat.  That blown 1st rounder in really 2019 hurt.  But still, overall it's weird considering we didn't really graduate any significant prospects.  So we should be moving up -- not down.  The lack of a 2020 minor league season hurt our farm system list since we have so many younger guys.  But everyone is in the same boat.  It's just disappointing since i'd have assumed we'd be easily top 10 now.

[Angelsjunky]

Don't forget that they're basically going off of 2019. I imagine the Angels have slipped (in their eyes) due to Adell graduating and/or struggling.

While it is hearsay, we did hear some very encouraging things out of Long Beach, especially regarding Rodriguez, Detmers, Adams, Paris, Kochanowicz, Holmes, etc. To be fair to BA and Law et al, there's no way they can really account for that sort of thing in their rankings. They've probably heard similar things from every org.

[Inside Pitch]

6 hours ago, Fourts said:

it's pretty disappointing though that we moved out of the rock bottom a few years back to get into the middle (or better) from most publications -- only to fall back the last couple years somewhat.  That blown 1st rounder in really 2019 hurt.  But still, overall it's weird considering we didn't really graduate any significant prospects.  So we should be moving up -- not down.  The lack of a 2020 minor league season hurt our farm system list since we have so many younger guys.  But everyone is in the same boat.  It's just disappointing since i'd have assumed we'd be easily top 10 now.

The reason we havent ....  Keith Law sums it up nicely in today's Athletic article where he ranks them 23rd. 

23. L.A. Angels

If we were just ranking systems by tools, somehow adding up those grades or averaging them or however you might measure an entire organization’s toolsiness, the Angels would be in the top half, maybe the top 10. They love athletes, targeting them in the draft and on the international market, but developing those guys when their baseball skill level starts out low is a huge challenge for any organization. 

This is a good system, the best it's been since the very late 2000s.  It's just very young and very raw, but if a team is looking for an infustion of talent and skills, the Angels are right there.  People have a tendency to put too much weight into system rankings, it's all subjective and when push comes to shove it's all unrealized potential.  Obviously being ranked first is better than last, because theoretically you have more chances for those guys to become realized potential but it's all noise.   The 30th ranked system in MLB gave birth to David Fletcher -- dude will never be a star but he's a foundation piece for the Angels much like Calhoun was for half a decade.

Compare what Law had to say about the Angels system to the rest of the AL west and thats the best 23rd ranked system ever.
 

[Inside Pitch]

38 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I completely disagree with Baseball America's assessment of our farm system who ranked us 22nd. 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2021-mlb-organization-talent-rankings/

I have zero issues with it.  See my post on Law's rankings and reasoning for it.  The rankings are noise.

BTW -- Law has the Angels ranked 23rd -- that's still second best in the AL West.  The Mariners rank first, and with 5 guys in the top 100 they only managed to rank 13th overall..   

Here's what he had to say about the other four AL West teams..

13. Seattle

As with the Marlins, so with the Mariners: Their system is the best it’s been in at least a decade, with five guys on my top 100, the most they’ve ever had since I started compiling these lists. The biggest difference is that they’re keeping the prospects they acquire, and are dealing for prospects rather than trading them away, even targeting guys in other systems they think are undervalued or could benefit from their player development work. They’ve been hurt more than anything by the major-league team’s flirtations with relevance; they picked sixth in 2020, the first time they’ve picked in the top 10 since 2014 (when they took the since-traded Alex Jackson). There’s also some upside here, as they’ve been willing to take on more teenage talent in the search for ceiling.

24. Texas

Talk about a system that needs to get healthy. The Rangers had a terrible run of injuries in 2019, including four top 20ish prospects going down with Tommy John surgery and Anderson Tejeda needing shoulder surgery. Their luck hasn’t really turned around yet, as their breakout pitcher from the back fields in 2020, Ricky Vanasco, also blew out his elbow. I like what they’ve done in their recent trades, acquiring far-off or just less-known prospects in the Lance Lynn, Rafael Montero and Elvis Andrus-Khris Davis deals.

25. Houston

Trades, lower draft picks and the gutting of the Astros’ pro and amateur scouting departments have really put a dent in what was once a stacked system. Some big player development successes and aggressive moves on the international free agent front give the Astros some long-term potential, and their 2020 draft leaned back toward upside and away from low-ceiling performers.

29. Oakland

Terrible luck with pitcher health and limited production on the international front have both really hurt the A’s system, which is generally shallow but especially so on the mound, while they’ve also been held back by some top-10 overall picks that haven’t worked out, from Austin Beck to Kyler Murray (the latter not their fault).

Here's the link to the entire article..  https://theathletic.com/2375784/2021/02/10/mlb-2021-farm-system-rankings-keith-law/

[T.G.]

@Inside Pitch doing what IP does...

Good stuff, brother!

I always appreciate your perspective.  Like you said, there's a lot of "noise" out there - thanks for quieting the noise and helping us make sense of it all!

[Docwaukee]

27 minutes ago, Fourts said:

it's pretty disappointing though that we moved out of the rock bottom a few years back to get into the middle (or better) from most publications -- only to fall back the last couple years somewhat.  That blown 1st rounder in really 2019 hurt.  But still, overall it's weird considering we didn't really graduate any significant prospects.  So we should be moving up -- not down.  The lack of a 2020 minor league season hurt of farm list since we have so many younger guys.  But everyone is in the same boat.  It's just disappointing since i'd have assumed we'd be easily top 10 now.

first of all, I'm not sure why you'd assume we'd be top 10 because we haven't had anyone to trade away nor have we had any top 5 picks.  It was gonna be a slow burn back to mediocre.  We didn't graduate anyone but didn't allow anyone else the opportunity to show some of their upside.  Maybe some other pick from the 15 range in 2019 would have helped but most of the guys available are borderline top 100 at best.  Big whoop on one guy.  I didn't like but it didn't 'really hurt' like you say.  You're not gonna hit on every first rounder when you in the mid first round.  Not everyone is in the same boat in regards to having a young system.  We have gone more upside than most so there are more guys that need time on the field and the opportunity to show what they've got.  

Keep in mind that major publications aren't going to overtly acknowledge that they know far less about most teams than they have in the past.  

[Inside Pitch]

1 minute ago, T.G. said:

@Inside Pitch doing what IP does...

Good stuff, brother!

I always appreciate your perspective.  Like you said, there's a lot of "noise" out there - thanks for quieting the noise and helping us make sense of it all!

Its easy to get sucked into this stuff..  But the reality is our primary competition outside of the Mariners don't really have anything brewing we should worry about.  The Angels have the money, core and farm system to be relevant moving forward.  Subjective rankings on unrealized potential won't matter for shit if they simply do their jobs right.  There are a few of us that have repeatedly brought up the age of our system as a big factor, both good and bad.  If they weren't so young, or if they were four years in and not showing improvement then there would be reason to worry, but talent/tools wise the system is in a good place -- it's just young and in need of at bats/innings.

[T.G.]

The cool thing about this, is that we can take the information from IP and spout off to our friends who don't post on AW and make it sound like we're smart.

Not that I've actually done that, mind you.  But I could...

[Angel Oracle]

NOW, Dumbpoto builds a farm system for the future?

Where was that when he was here?

Two words?   Arte Moreno?