Baseball America’s Jim Callis had hinted in a chat a couple of months ago that the Mets farm system would be ranked somewhere around 16-18 which many found too low.
Well today, Baseball America released their 2013 Organizational Rankings and the Mets did come in at No. 16.
Here’s the top 16 overall:
1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Texas Rangers
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Miami Marlins
6. Boston Red Sox
7. Pittsburgh Pirates
8. Arizona Diamondbacks
9. Houston Astros
10. Minnesota Twins
11. New York Yankees
12. Chicago Cubs
13. Washington Nationals
14. San Diego Padres
15. Cincinnati Reds
16. New York Mets
How They Got Here: The best Mets farmhands are the products of trades—Wheeler from the Giants for Carlos Beltran, d’Arnaud and Syndergaard from the Blue Jays for R.A. Dickey. New York also has an intriguing crop of homegrown righthanders led by Matero, Montero, Fulmer, but the majority of its prospects has yet to surface above Class A.
High-Ceiling Sleeper: After missing his first full pro season because of Tommy John surgery, RHP Jacob DeGrom bounced back in 2012 with a 93-98 mph fastball and flawless control.
As Callis points out, this new Mets ranking is fueled by the trades of Carlos Beltran and R.A. Dickey who were dealt for Zack Wheeler, Travis d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard who are among the top five overall Mets prospects.
So what does this mean in the grand scheme of things?
Nothing really.
The Mets could easily fall back to No. 24 once Wheeler and d’Arnaud are called up at some point this season.
The true test will come when the top five prospects are populated by players that were drafted/signed and developed through the system and how those players rank among all the other team’s prospects. That will be a truer indication of how well we are developing players.
