Five Red Sox prospects make Minor League Ball's mid-season top 75

The Red Sox have placed five prospects on Minor League Ball's mid-season top 75: Yoan Moncada (13), Rafael Devers (18), Manuel Margot (41), Brian Johnson (54), and Henry Owens (60).

If their absence alone didn't clue you in, both Eduardo Rodriguez and Blake Swihart are considered to have "graduated" to the majors at this point. Both would likely be included in the upper echelons of the list had they not been called into service by the injuries and underperformances of the major league club in 2015.

While it's still an impressive showing, Sickels actually doesn't seem to be as high on Boston's system as other prospect evaluators. Particularly after the first two in Moncada and Devers, Sickels' rankings tend to fall below those of, say, Baseball America or Baseball Prospectus. Consider Margot at 41 compared to 24th for Baseball America and 14th for Baseball Prospectus.

In fact, it's something Sickels himself notes, saying that he's wary of the hype that tends to surround Red Sox prospects. Amusingly enough, he proceeds to suggest that Brian Johnson might be underhyped, but Baseball America had him in at 38th, a solid 16 places ahead of Sickels' ranking.

At the end of the day, though, we're quibbling over details in what is just another glowing review of one of baseball's stronger farm systems. Even having graduated two top-50 prospects in Swihart and Rodriguez (who might well have both been top-15 or even top-10 at this point if they had stayed in Pawtucket), they've got twice the average representation and no lack of top-tier players. If there's one part of this team that has been consistently positive these last few years, it's the farm system.