Down on the Farm - 5/24/22

Organizational standings, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, call-ups, injury news, games to watch today

Good morning!

Organizational Win-Loss Rankings

Now that the minor league season is about a 1/3 of the way in, let’s take a look at the organizational standings. The win-loss record of an organization isn’t a perfect representation of the quality of their talent pool, but it does mean something. It’s not a fluke that last season the Rays had the best organizational record in the minors AND had one of the top farm systems in terms of talent. Organizations know that the farm system is just that, a farm system. A place where young players’ develop their skills in order to become successful big league players. But, especially to the players, coaches, and player development staff, winning is a representation of the quality of their work, even if it’s not the primary goal of minor league baseball. As a fan, maybe you only care about the performance of your teams top prospects, but winning matters too and is the byproduct of the collection and depth of talent an organization has been able to compile.

So far the Cubs have had the best record in the minor leagues, led by a strong Myrtle Beach (A) team that has won 8 straight games and rosters top prospects Pete Crow-Armstrong (20), Kevin Alcantara (19), James Triantos (19), and shortstop Kevin Made (19). The Pelicans have a +94 run differential heading into today’s game. It’s one of those clubs, as a fan, you look at and start to dream about what the big league roster will look like in 2025. It’s certainly a team worth watching when they are on MiLB TV.

The worst organization by win-loss record has been the Houston Astros, who don’t have a single club above .500. To be fair, here is a case where an organization has recently graduated many talented players into the big leagues and has also traded from an organizational position of strength in recent years to support a successful big league club. It’s difficult to win at all levels every year, unless you are the Dodgers of course.