The Boston Red Sox farm system has come a long way over the last few years.
When Chaim Bloom replaced Dave Dombrowski in the Red Sox front office in 2019, several credible outlets ranked Boston's organization talent among MLB's worst. The farm system entered the 2020 campaign ranked 25th out of 30 clubs by MLB Pipeline, 23rd by Baseball America, and 25th by The Athletic. It was ranked dead last by FanGraphs.
Bloom has prioritized improving the Red Sox farm system since his arrival, and it appears that work is beginning to pay off. FanGraphs updated its farm system rankings on Wednesday and Boston earned the No. 5 spot. Only the Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Tampa Bay Rays ranked higher.
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That ranking is even more impressive given that two of the organization's prized prospects -- Triston Casas and Brayan Bello -- graduated to the majors last season. Even with their promotions, the Red Sox have five prospects ranked inside MLB Pipeline's Top 100 and four in Keith Law's Top 60.
Twenty-year-old shortstop Marcelo Mayer, the No. 4 pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, is currently a consensus top-five MLB prospect. He leads a promising group of youngsters that includes 19-year-old outfielder Roman Anthony, 22-year-old outfielder/shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela, 21-year-old second baseman Nick Yorke, and 19-year-old outfielder Miguel Bleis.
As Red Sox manager Alex Cora stated earlier this month, playing games in October is far more important than any farm system ranking. Still, the collection of promising young talent in the pipeline should inspire optimism. Former top Red Sox prospects Casas, Bello, and Jarren Duran have looked like players worth building around. When the next wave of blue-chip prospects joins them, Boston should have a club that's built to compete for years to come.
