Keith Law released his farm system rankings for all 30 MLB teams, and the Braves have taken a fall after trading away and graduating some talent.
New post for subscribers to @TheAthletic – my ranking of all 30 teams' farm systems: https://t.co/kSNkwa2nUC
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) February 7, 2022
This isn’t a surprise, as Baseball America had the Braves falling a few spots as well. Right now, Law has the Braves at 17th after debuting at 6th to begin 2021:
Atlanta’s passel of trades at the deadline last year didn’t put much of a dent in its system, as the organization didn’t trade anyone from its top 10 and probably just one player who would have made its top 20. But the fallout from their violations of MLB rules in the international free-agent market has dragged the system down – they lost a second-round draft pick and were unable to participate meaningfully in international free agency for multiple years. There’s still a fair amount of pitching in the system, albeit nothing to compare to what they had three years ago, and enough potential up-the-middle regulars to keep this system around the midpoint in the rankings.
I agree with his analysis for the most part, and it’s clear the Braves have a top-heavy system. Alex Anthopoulos and the front office focused on college players in the 2021 draft to hopefully replenish the system quickly. Guys like Ryan Cusick will have to step up in a big way to keep this system afloat, especially with guys like Cristian Pache and Spencer Strider potentially graduating quickly. Thankfully for the Braves, besides the Marlins at 14th, they are still ahead of most of the NL East. The Mets clocked in at 21st, the Nationals at 27th, and the Phillies at 28th.
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