The Pittsburgh Pirates have six players on Baseball America’s latest top 100 list, further proof that general manager Ben Cherington is doing the best he can to make Pittsburgh farm system one of the strongest in the nation.
The Pirates, along with the Arizona Diamondbacks are the only two teams to have that many players on the list.
How they rank:
(14) Shortstop Oneil Cruz – Triple-A Indianapolis (Made Major League debut in 2021)
(41) Catcher Henry Davis – High-A Greensboro
(49) Second baseman Nick Gonzales – High-A Greensboro
(78) Shortstop Liover Peguero – High-A Greensboro
(80) RHP Roansy Contreras – Triple-A Indianapolis (Made Major League debut in 2021)
(88) RHP Quinn Priester – High-A Greensboro
"It's feedback and a signal of progress, we think," said Pirates GM Ben Cherington. "We just got to be totally focused and maniacal about getting better and building young player talent all the time, every way we possibly can."
Cruz moved up five spots (he was 19th in the previous ranking), Davis was 44 Gonzales moved up significantly from 65 last September, Peguero stayed steady at 78, Contreras is making his debut on the top 100 and Priester tumbled from 50 to 88.
As Pirates insider Jason Mackey of the Post-Gazette wrote on Wednesday, “It’s a little funky to see Priester drop so much after the right-hander had such a solid year.”
Priester went 7-4 last season with a 3.04 ERA. He struck out 98 and walked 39 over 97.2 innings.
MLB Pipeline has the Pirates farm system in the top five at number four currently.
"We do pay attention to it because it's an opinion outside the Pirates," Cherington said. "It's important we get feedback outside the Pirates."