SF Giants farm system falls in Baseball America's organizational rankings

San Francisco Giants v Oakland Athletics
San Francisco Giants v Oakland Athletics | Michael Zagaris/GettyImages

Despite the lack of any baseball news, Baseball America has been churning out its preseason prospect content as usual. On Wednesday, they (Subscription required) released their organizational rankings with the SF Giants taking a small step back.

SF Giants farm system falls in Baseball America's organizational rankings

Baseball America had the Giants listed as the No. 17 farm system in baseball. Last year, the Giants came in at No. 14, so the change in opinion represents a minor slide. They noted that the organization's top prospects are in the lower minors, so some development and projection remain:

"San Francisco’s lower levels featured breakout seasons from some of its best prospects, including outfielders Luis Matos and Jairo Pomares and lefty Kyle Harrison. Top prospect Marco Luciano mostly performed well at Low-A before spinning his wheels a bit at High-A. Buster Posey’s retirement clears a path now for Joey Bart"
Baseball America

It is fair to admit that Baseball America's rankings have been unusually conservative regarding the Giants even as the farm system has made a considerable turnaround. With that being said, the scouting reports for both Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos have been a little more unfavorable compared to just one year ago.

This could be due to prospect fatigue as both have been on these lists for quite some time, especially in the case of Ramos who was selected in the first round of the 2017 draft. Given the weight that they hold in the farm system, it is not surprising to see the overall opinion slide just a little bit.

On a more positive note, the Giants have a lot of young, impactful talent in the organization, Marco Luciano, Luis Matos, Jairo Pomares, and Kyle Harrison are some of the more exciting Giants prospects at the moment.

All of them are on the younger side, so they are still relatively far away from making an impact on the major league roster. Nevertheless, they have opened some eyes and many expect both Matos and Harrison to join Luciano as some of the better prospects in baseball in the not-too-distant future.

It is mildly concerning that the farm system is not as strong according to some external evaluators, but the Giants were able to record a franchise-record 107 wins in 2021 without the contributions of many key recent prospects, excluding Logan Webb. The front office seems comfortable building a strong roster not only through the farm system but through shrewd acquisitions as well.

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