Dissecting the Pirates Farm System

Over the past several years, the Pirates farm system has steadily improved under the watch of general manager Neal Huntington.  At the moment, prior to the official graduation of Gerrit Cole, it may be at its zenith.  The farm system is absolutely loaded with both pitching and hitting prospects.  For fun, I decided to break the farm system into two systems, one consisting of just pitchers and the other of hitters. From there, I'll compare each Pirates farm system to farm systems league-wide, identifying those that that one or both of the Pirates farm systems are clearly stronger than.  This will show how incredible the Pirates farm system currently is and how balanced it is as well.

Early Look at Names for the 2013 Draft

The 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft is about as fresh as it can get, concluding earlier this afternoon.  Save for a guys who were eager to start their professional careers, the ink hasn't dried yet on the recent draftees contracts; virtually none have even signed yet.  So that means it's time to start speculating about the 2013 draft.  A mock draft would be nearly impossible for two reasons: things will change so dramatically between now and next June and the draft order isn't even set yet with well over half the major league season still to be played.

That said, we can go ahead and take look some names to start watching for the 2013 draft.  The list will include both high school and college players.  The players are not ranked in a particular order. Check it out after the jump.