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Keith Law's farm system rankings are posted at The Athletic. Frustratingly, the Dodgers sit atop of the rankings. Just think about that. The franchise that can most afford to say "screw the luxury tax" and outbid for whatever player they want is also the franchise that's most stocked with young talent.
That said, even with all our pitchers that graduated from the farm system last year, Law has us moving up from 15 to 7.
7. Kansas City Royals
Last year: No. 15
We are not talking about the seismic change in Kansas City’s offensive approach in the minors last year. It went from an 8.3 percent walk rate from hitters on its four full-season affiliates in 2019 to a 10.9 percent walk rate at those four levels last year – a jump of nearly a third. It’s the result of a top-down decision to change how the organization teaches hitters to approach at-bats, and it worked wonders. It may have saved the careers of Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez, it took Bobby Witt Jr. to the next level as a prospect, and it elevated several second-tier prospects to give them a chance to be regulars. The system’s weakness is now on the pitching side, in part the result of graduating so many arms to the majors in the last two years – the college pitchers they took with their first four picks in 2018 all lost rookie status in that period – but it began to replenish with two high-upside high school arms in the 2021 class. That change on the hitting side was long overdue, but its effects were immediate and are going to show up on the major-league roster this year.
EDIT: FWIW, we're the top AL Central farm system, with Cleveland right behind us at 8, Detroit at 12 and Minni at 18 and Chi at 30.
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