We know the strength of the Red Sox organization does not currently lie in the minors right now. Boston has seen a number of top prospects graduate and a lot of others traded for current stars, and that obviously has an effect on a farm system. Granted, I think we’ll all take that trade-off every single time considering what happened last year and the kind of season they should be able to put up in the coming season. Still, this is the time of year where the national baseball audience tends to put a whole lot of focus on farm systems, and thus it is a time in which we’ll see just how rough the organization’s minor-league system is right now.
One example of this could be found at ESPN on Monday morning, with Keith Law releasing his annual farm system rankings. Last week, he dropped his top 100 prospect list in two parts and the Red Sox did not have any representation. They did, for what it’s worth, have Darwinzon Hernandez get a mention on his just missed list. As far as the overall system rankings, the Red Sox found themselves in the bottom-third of the league at number 24 overall.
These are all behind a paywall, so I won’t go into too much detail on the rest of the rankings, but it’s worth noting that Law does believe the Red Sox farm system could be on the way up. He mentions the rough year the farm had in 2018 — between Jay Groome’s injury and Michael Chavis’ suspension, among other events, he’s not wrong — but also expresses excitement for last year’s draft class as well as recent international classes. It’s the same thing we discussed last week about this being a big year for the farm.
Ultimately, the low ranking is not a surprise, but it also shouldn’t be too encouraging. The Red Sox major-league roster is in as good a spot as any other in the game, and that’s the ultimate goal for every team. Add in the fact that the farm should be on the rise, and life is pretty good in Red Sox land all things considered.