As the season winds down, we will start to see farm system rankings trickle in from various sources. The Astros figure to rank very highly in most of these. One of the first is Baseball America's "Near Term Value" Ranking. And sure enough, the Astros come in at #2.
This isn't a pure farm system ranking, and instead is weighted towards top prospects in advanced leagues. So, while Correa will be the Astros' top prospect on most lists, he doesn't earn as many points here as Foltynewicz and Springer. This is encouraging. While the strength of the farm system is still primarily at the lower levels, this list shows how much talent is close and should be ready to help soon. It's going to get better.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
