Bleacher Report's latest farm system rankings were recently released, and you might be surprised to learn that the Red Sox didn't make Joel Reuter's top 10, and placed 13th instead. The Mariners led the list, with the Rays, Tigers, White Sox and Cubs rounding out the top five.
Given the talent in the Red Sox system, it's not hard to see why many Sox fans are upset with the ranking. Boston might not have the depth of the top-ranked organizations, it's hard to ignore the fact that they have three prospects ranked in the top ten on MLB's list - Roman Anthony (No. 3), Marcelo Mayer (No. 7), and Kristian Campbell (No. 10). All of them are coming off of tremendous minor league seasons, and Anthony and Mayer are expected to make their big league debuts this season. The Red Sox also have the 95th ranked prospect, 19-year old Franklin Arias.
The Red Sox may not have the most top 100 prospects of any team or the top prospect in the league, but they are the only team with three in the top 10. In fact, the Tigers are the only other team with two or more. That fact alone should at least put them among the 10 best farm systems in baseball.
Bleacher Report's farm system rankings completely undervalues Red Sox's pipeline
Looking at some of the teams Reuter has in front of the Red Sox makes it even more confusing. The Athletics had only two top 100 prospects but ranked seventh. The Rays, who were ranked second by Reuter, had only three in the top 100, two of whom ranked behind Campbell, Boston's number three prospect. The Brewers and Rockies, ranked ninth and tenth respectively, also had three top-100 talents, all of whom were ranked behind Campbell.
No doubt the reason for the Red Sox's low ranking is the trade for ace Garrett Crochet, which sent four prospects, including Kyle Teel (No. 25) and Braden Montgomery (No. 54), to the White Sox. While the trade definitely hurt Boston's organizational depth, it shouldn't be enough to knock them out of the top 10, given the talent of Anthony, Mayer and Campbell. Although the Red Sox might be moving more prospects soon, for now, their current farm system undoubtedly deserves a place in the top 10.