According to Baseball America, the Pittsburgh Pirates are now solidly in the Top 5 when it comes to their farm system. According to their midseason update, the Pirates' farm system ranks No. 4 in the MLB. After collecting a sea of talented young players in back-to-back drafts, General Manager Ben Cherington (GMBC) dealt for others at the 2021 trade deadline. It is becoming abundantly clear that GMBC is succeeding in the Pirates rebuild.
Since Baseball America is behind a pay wall, I did some super sleuthing efforts for you all. From what I could gather on Twitter, the Pirates trail just the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, and a still unknown third team. I would have guessed the Tampa Bay Rays, but based on how many of their prospects have now "graduated" to the big leagues, I am hearing they have taken a big fall.
I also know the San Francisco Giants are 5th, the Detroit Tigers are ranked 6th and Boston Red Sox are at number 9. As more details reveal themselves I will make note of who that pesky No. 3 team is.
New Prospects Emerging
The catalyst for this jump has to be the amount of recently acquired players by the Pirates. Baseball America recently updated their player rankings last week for the Pirates organization and many were just acquired within the last two months. The 2021 amateur draft proved very valuable this year for the Pirates. After landing catcher Henry Davis way under slot, they followed it up by signing their twelve top draft picks.
No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis has been promoted to @GSOHoppers after going 3-for-7 in two games with the Florida Complex League @Pirates. pic.twitter.com/A0w9fkUsv3
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 12, 2021
In addition to the aforementioned Davis ranking as No. 2 in the Pirates pipeline, Baseball America ranked several other newly acquired draft picks in their top 30 as well. Two-way player Bubba Chandler (No. 13), left-handed pitcher Anthony Solomento (No. 21), and outfielder Lonnie White Jr. (No. 22) have all been added to the Pirates top 30 prospects in the most recent update.
Additionally, GMBC added several new top prospects at the trade deadline. When Pirates traded Adam Frazier to the San Diego Padres, they received in return utility player Tucupita Marcano. Marcano now ranks as the Pirates No. 7 prospect. Furthermore, the trade of Tyler Anderson to the Seattle Mariners paid immediate dividends in the form of catcher Carter Bins. He is placed at No. 24 in the team's pipeline.
These midseason acquisitions definitely helped propel the Pirates to the top of these pipeline midseason rankings. I look forward to more of this story leaking and we can all fill in the blanks together.