Yankees Farm System Continues to Decline

While not every team needs a great farm system to be successful, it certainly helps.

The New York Yankees just saw their farm system fall from No. 21 to No. 23 in ESPN's rankings. According to Kiley McDaniel, the team's prospects and overall minor league outlook keeps changing for the worse.

McDaniel compiled a list of every team in the MLB and placed the Yankees at No. 23. That's a bit alarming, to say the least, especially since they have a pair of Top 100 prospects.

The only team below them with two Top 100 prospects is the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs check in at No. 25 and are one Top 100 prospect shy of leading the bottom five teams combined.

Yankees Must Find A Fix

Yankees IF Dax Kilb — Jul 1, 2024; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Newnan High School infielder Dax Kilby during the Perfect Game National Showcase high school baseball game at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

"Ben Rice, Austin Wells, Jasson Dominguez, Cam Schlittler and Will Warren have graduated over the past few years, while a number of prospects have been traded to Miami to land Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ryan Weathers, to Pittsburgh to land David Bednar, to Milwaukee to land Devin Williams and to San Francisco to land Camilo Doval," McDaniel wrote.

He added, "Spencer Jones might be the biggest boom-or-bust prospect in the top 200. Dax Kilby is one of the biggest arrow-up 2025 draftees. Carlos Lagrange might be a reliever, but he'd be a good one. Elmer Rodriguez was a savvy acquisition (though giving up Carlos Narvaez was a high price). And Lombard should be a good every-day player, maybe better."

To no surprise, Lombard is this organization's top-ranked prospect. Coming off the Top 100 list and then 101-200, the Yankees saw quite a few players listed in both of those lists. That said, it's not like teams are chomping at the bit to trade for their top prospects.

Yankees Have A Problem Developing Talent

Yankees CF Spencer Jone — Feb 22, 2025; Dunedin, Florida, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Spencer Jones (78) hits a home run during the sixth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Spencer Jones is the epitome of this headline. Someone with seemingly all the talent in the world can't get out of his own head as the Yankees have let him regress for two straight seasons. He's regressing at an alarming rate, and a bad 2026 season will easily drop him out of the Top 200 and he'll be worth absolutely nothing.

According to the calculations, last year the Yankees prospects were worth a projected $166 million. Now, they're worth just $125M. That's a huge drop to have in one year's time, but that should come as no surprise as anytime this team has a notable prospect, they trade them for an established big-league name. In order to sustain success and get back to another World Series, the Yankees have to change their ways.

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