The Athletic desperately tries to paint Yankees homegrown core on Red Sox’s level

The Boston Red Sox have one of the best farm systems in baseball, even in the wake of the Garrett Crochet trade, in which the Red Sox gave up big prospects like Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery. Highlighted by Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer, the Red Sox appear to have an outstanding core of young talent ready to take over.

However, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal seems to think the Yankees have also produced a core of elite homegrown talent. In a recent article, Rosenthal wrote, "[The Yankees] appear on the verge of producing their best homegrown group since the Core Four of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera."

Aaron Judge is obviously a member of this new group, and may ultimately be remembered as a better player than any of the "Core Four" guys that Rosenthal mentioned. Anthony Volpe is off to a fine start in his big league career, so he's in the group as well. But beyond that, it's unclear who Rosenthal is referring to. Maybe Jasson Dominguez or Austin Wells are part of this group, but it's a stretch to compare those two to any of the "Core Four". It's also a stretch to compare Volpe to Jeter, but that's another story.

Ken Rosenthal hypes up Yankees player development in wake of Red Sox's prospect dominance

It's unlikely that anyone in their farm system, since the Yankees' only top 100 prospect is middle infielder George Lombard Jr., ranked 98th and still in high-A Hudson Valley. MLB ranked the Yankees farm system as the 24th-best in baseball, while the Red Sox came in third.

The Yankees' supposed core of homegrown talent is somewhat ambiguous. Meanwhile, the Red Sox have three blue-chip prospects at or near the major league level, not to mention Rafael Devers locked up for years to come. If anything, it's the Red Sox that are close to assembling a young, homegrown core, not the Yankees. The discrepancy between the two clubs' farm systems is impossible to ignore, and there's also the fact that the Yankees have historically used free agency and the trade market to build teams, not their farm system.