AL West Farm System Rankings: Astros barely keeping up despite division's missteps

The World Series gets started this week, but the focus for Houston Astros fans has already shifted to the offseason and how the 2025 season could unfold. While a good portion of that speculation hinges on the offseason and what the future holds for guys like Alex Bregman and Yusei Kikuchi, there is also a lot to consider when it comes to which Houston prospects could come up and make a difference next season.

By all accounts, the Astros' farm system has seen better days. Until this year, Houston had been picking at or near the bottom of each round of the draft, in addition to losing multiple draft picks due to MLB sanctions. That was always going to take a toll on the player development pipeline.

When one looks at the Astros' farm system against the rest of the AL West, though, the picture becomes much less clear.

Unofficial and completely unscientific AL West farm system rankings

Ranking farm systems is a good way to get the entire internet to yell at you, so some explanation may be helpful first. The bottom three teams here all have a few interesting names at the top of their prospect rankings, followed by a steep drop-off after that. These are not good farm systems and no one is arguing otherwise. One could easily argue that there is only one good minor-league system in the entire division and the rest is splitting hairs.

That said, the Astros do seem to be somewhat keeping pace on the prospect side of things, despite the headwinds they have faced as an organization (along with a healthy amount of trades) -- although that is more an indictment of their rivals than anything else.

5. Los Angeles Angels

The Angels currently profile as a dumpster fire of an organization whose player development failures have only been exacerbated by a number of lightning fast promotions given to guys like Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto. Christian Moore had a fantastic pro debut and Caden Dana looks like a rotation arm of the future, but there is virtually no depth behind those two, unless you squint your eyes and do a lot of projecting.

4. Texas Rangers

Between the quick promotions of guys like Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford, some questionable draft picks, and a number of trades, the Rangers' farm system looks pillaged these days. Sebastian Walcott has the most upside of the bunch and, if things break his way, he has the tools to be a star. Kumar Rocker has had to overcome a lot of injuries to re-establish himself as a can't-miss pitching prospect who will be pitching in the majors in 2025, assuming he stays healthy.

After that? You have Justin Foscue, who could be an interesting bat, but has a questionable defensive future and is coming off injuries in 2024, followed by a load of guys with very limited or very, very questionable track records in the minors.

3. Houston Astros

Going to be honest, we didn't expect the Astros to rank this high when this thought exercise was started. Houston doesn't have a can't-miss prospect like some organizations (although one could argue that Brice Matthews is making more and more of an argument) and there is basically no pitching depth whatsoever.

However, Matthews, Jacob Melton, Walker Janek, and Luis Baez give Houston four guys at various levels of the minors that have the talent to be everyday big leaguers. They also harbor interesting names like Zach Dezenzo, Anderson Brito, AJ Blubaugh, Shay Whitcomb, Pedro Leon, and Kenedy Corona, all worth keeping an eye on. Considering the competition in the AL West, that is more than the Angels and Rangers can probably say.

2. Oakland Athletics

Oakland's system is a bit better than the Astros', but it isn't by a ton. Jacob Wilson is going to be a stud, picking Nick Kurtz in the first round is looking like a very smart move, and Henry Bolte is a toolshed, if his hit tool continues to play. There are real questions as who will be pitching for them in the coming years, but Gage Jump and Gunnar Hoglund are interesting arms at least.

Will the A's be able to do anything with this young crop of prospects? Almost certainly not. They have an owner that has burned every bridge imaginable to force his way out of Oakland and has never inspired confidence that he will invest in his team. That isn't the players' fault, but the likelihood is strong that most, if not all, of these names will be playing for different organizations in a few years if current trends hold.

1. Seattle Mariners

Without question, the Mariners have the best farm system in the AL West, which could present some problems for Houston down the road. Seattle has a number of top 100 prospects on the position player side, led by Colt Emerson and Cole Young. That should, in theory, help their hapless offense in the long-term. They also just picked arguably the most interesting player in the 2024 draft when they selected switch pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje.

The one saving grace for the Astros is that most of the Mariners' prospect depth isn't super close to being big-league ready. However, that also means that Seattle that has some trade chips to make a big move if they want to, although all indications at the moment are that the Mariners seem content to hang on to their top guys in hopes they will produce in the big leagues on the cheap.