A’s land at No. 19 in Kiley McDaniel’s farm system rankings at ESPN

Feb 3, 2023 - 5:00 PM

Prospect list season continued Friday with the release of Kiley McDaniel’s farm system rankings with the Oakland Athletics coming in at No. 19 on the list. If you missed it, Keith Law had the A’s system ranked 27th earlier this week. All prospect lists and system rankings are subjective so there is ultimately no right or wrong answer. They are fun though and McDaniel incorporates surplus dollar values for each future value tier of prospect into his rankings. Through that lens, the A’s fared a little better jumping from 28th last year into the middle tier at 19.

McDaniel cites the graduations of Shea Langeliers, Kevin Smith, A.J. Put and others as part of the reason the system hasn’t climbed into the Top 10.

Of those prospects on last year’s team list, Max Muncy, Mason Miller, Denzel Clarke, Brett Harris and Joey Estes improved their stock by a notch of FV, but there wasn’t a big breakthrough performance. Only two A’s made the top 100, which is why this system isn’t in the top 10 even with notable draft and international classes. That said, another half-dozen prospects are within striking distance of the top 100 and almost all of them are set to play in the upper minors.

With a number of prospects just outside the Top 100, the Athletics’ system is likely moving in the right direction. That would be the hope after trading Matt Olson and Sean Murphy in back-to-back offseasons.