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Spring training has started and the offseason is over, but that doesn’t mean prospect season has ended just yet. Baseball America is still rolling with their preseason coverage, and on Friday they released their ranking of all MLB farm systems.
The content is behind a paywall, but I will tell you that the Red Sox found themselves smack in the middle of the pack, ranking 14th overall. As BA notes, that is a stark decline from the past two years when they ranked fourth and second, respectively. Furthermore, their ranking is buoyed by Andrew Benintendi, who is only a prospect because of an injury late last year that limited his major-league playing time.
On the other hand, they still have two of the best prospects in the game behind Benintendi in Rafael Devers and Jason Groome. Their cupboard won’t be completely bare once Benintendi graduates. On top of that, they are loaded with young talent on the major-league roster between Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley, Eduardo Rodriguez, Blake Swihart and Christian Vazquez. This is even after recent trades over the last year-plus that have made them one of the favorites to win the World Series this year. Farm system rankings are far from everything, and even with the concentration being on the major-league roster they are in the top half of the league.
Also included in the post was a possible high-ceiling sleeper and possible breakout for each team. For Boston, the sleeper was infielder Josh Tobias. If the name doesn’t sound familiar, it’s because he just recently joined the organization after coming in return for Clay Buchholz. He’s been mostly thought of as a throw-in as the deal was mostly made to get Buchholz’ money off the books, but it’s nice to see at least some experts see potential here. The breakout was Stephen Nogosek, the team’s sixth round pick in last summer’s draft. He is a reliever, which limits his ceiling, but he pitched well in Lowell last year and has the potential to move quickly through the system.