MLB 26-and-Under Team Rankings: No. 5-1
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jake Mintz breaks down the cream of the crop in terms of teams with the best sets of young talent in baseball.
Video Transcript
JAKE MINTZ: Now for the top five organizations in baseball with the most young talent under 26.
At number 5, the Cleveland Guardians. This team was dangerously mid and extremely forgettable in 2023. But they have a ton of talent still, especially on the pitching side. 80% of their starting rotation is going to be 26 and under. That's Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen, Gavin Williams, and Tanner Bibee. The system's a little bit thinner than you'd like, but Chase DeLauter is going to eventually join a very good group of young hitters at the big leagues, like Andrés Giménez, Steven Kwan, and Bo Naylor.
At number 4, the defending NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Now obviously, this is mostly about Corbin Carroll, who is already, at 23 years old, one of the best 15 players in the world. He proved it last October.
But he's not the only one on the Diamondbacks who proved things last October. Brandon Pfaadt on the pitching side, awesome in the playoffs. He's going to be in the rotation all year. And then Gabriel Moreno behind the dish, that is a real franchise catcher that the Diamondbacks have for a long, long time. But the supporting cast here is good, too. Jake McCarthy, Geraldo Perdomo, Jordan Lawlar are all going to be around and are all going to contribute in 2024.
At number 3, it's the Seattle Mariners, who have a sweet swinging supernova in Julio Rodríguez in a seemingly endless wave of young starting pitching. Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo, and George Kirby will all begin the year in Seattle's rotation. And Kirby, who had the lowest walk rate in baseball last year, should be in the Cy Young conversation yet again.
Now, the farm system is lacking a bit, particularly at the upper levels. But very few teams can boast this type of young starting pitching depth. And no other team gets to have Julio Rodríguez.
At number 2, the Atlanta Braves. This ranking is behind the strength of really three people-- Spencer Strider, who might be the best pitcher in the world, Ronald Acuña, who might be the best position player in the world, and Michael Harris II, who is one of the best young center fielders in baseball. It is a very top-heavy team when it comes to under 26 talent. But that talent is the best in the entire universe. Strider, Acuña, and Harris give the Braves more than enough to put them up to second on our rankings.
And at number 1, the Baltimore Orioles. It certainly helps to draft at the top year after year after year. But these Orioles, this front office, has hit on their big picks. Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman are the obvious ones, but Gunnar Henderson as a second-rounder coming up and winning AL Rookie of the Year last year, huge development for the O's.
This system remains absolutely loaded with young hitters. They literally don't have enough positions to play all these guys at the big league level. They shipped off a couple talented young players to the Brewers for Corbin Burnes. I expect them to continue to capitalize on this system to acquire Major League talent that's going to help them win as they're entering this contention cycle.
But really, you ask anyone around the game, and the Orioles farm system, the Orioles' young talent, it's second to none. That's why they are number 1 on our rankings.
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