ESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel ranks Red Sox farm system No. 16 overall, up five spots from last season

Over the last couple of seasons, Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom has drastically overhauled the farm system. MLB Pipeline recently ranked all 30 teams farm systems and Red Sox jumped from 24th to 12th.

Image courtesy of Kelly O’Connor / Twitter handle @SittingStillSox

ESPN Insider Kiley McDaniel released his rankings and the Red Sox are much improved. McDaniel listed the farm system at No. 16 just behind the San Diego Padres.

The Red Sox were ranked 21st last season by McDaniel. While he indicates only a five spot jump in his rankings, the MLB Insider offered praise for the work Bloom has done.

“As expected, the farm system has improved under Chaim Bloom, in large part due to a his first pick (Nick Yorke) paying off hugely, and with his second first-round pick (Marcelo Mayer), the Red Sox were opportunistic in grabbing the best player at the fourth pick in a positively odd top of last summer's draft,” wrote McDaniel.

Yorke has begun to prove the doubters wrong after an impressive 2021 season. Between two Class-A levels, the right-handed hitting second baseman slashed an impressive .325/.412/.516 with 20 doubles, five triples, 14 homers, 62 RBIs, 76 runs scored, 13 stolen bases, 52 walks, and 69 strikeouts over 97 total games in 442 trips to the plate.

The addition of Marcelo Mayer has experts excited for Boston. The 19-year-old was drafted No. 4 overall during the 2021 MLB Draft. Mayer was the best high school prospect in the draft class.

According to Keith Law of The Athletic, Mayer offers “a solid floor as a soft regular and the upside of a No. 2 hitter who saves 5 to 10 runs a year with his glove.”

With Yorke’s ascension up the rankings in one season to the addition of Mayer, Boston has two of the three top 100 prospects according to McDaniel. The other being Triston Casas who’ll eventually graduate off the prospects list and be a regular main stain at Fenway Park.

While McDaniel touched upon Yorke and Mayer, he did like last year’s draft class as a whole. In addition, he liked the Red Sox return for Hunter Renfroe in Alex Binelas and David Hamilton.

“There's still some work to do to hang with the class of the AL in 2022 but Triston Casas should be ready to take over for J.D. Martinez at some point, freeing up more payroll space for next winter,” added McDaniel.

The Orioles, Rays and Yankees all finished higher in McDaniel’s rankings than the Red Sox. The Blue Jays took over the No. 21 spot that Boston occupied last season.

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