Dodger farm system grading out surprisingly strong with evaluators; Cartaya, Miller, Vargas lead the way

Diego Cartaya (Photo: Cody Bashore)

Folks, time for your bi-monthly content feeding to remind you that Dodgers Digest is still alive despite nothing going on, as things look evermore bleak on the lockout front.

Aside from the aforementioned lockout, the main thing being utilized for content by most sites is prospect lists, and they generally seem to think quite highly of the talent the Dodgers have coming up.

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Baseball America: Their Top 10 is Diego Cartaya, Bobby Miller, Miguel Vargas, Michael Busch, Ryan Pepiot, Andy Pages, Landon Knack, Eddys Leonard, Andre Jackson, and Wilman Diaz. Leonard and Diaz are names that perhaps many fans are yet to be acquainted with, but they’re definitely ones to watch in 2022.

Baseball America: In their Top 100, five Dodgers were ranked, with Cartaya at #23, Miller at #38, Vargas at #40, Busch at #76, and Pepiot at #99.

Baseball Prospectus: Their Top 10 is Vargas, Cartaya, Miller, Pages, Pepiot, Busch, Maddux Bruns, Jorbit Vivas, Leonard, and Jackson. Mentioned among those on the rise are Alex De Jesus, Peter Heubeck, and Jose Ramos, with Jacob Amaya, Brandon Lewis, and James Outman being named as potential contributors.

Baseball Prospectus: Four Dodgers make their Top 101, with Vargas at #38, Cartaya at #55, Miller at #63, and Pages at #68.

The Athletic: Six Dodgers made their (Keith Law’s) Top 100, with Cartaya leading the way at # 13, Miller at #50, Busch at #53, Vargas at #62, Pages at #76, and Leonard at #98. Pepiot was ranked as a guy who just missed, and Law seems bemused by the riches of the Dodgers, in general.

The Dodgers’ system is hilarious; I see at least four other guys who had a credible argument to be on the top 100 or this just-missed list.

The Athletic: That segues rather nicely into why Keith thinks the Dodgers have the #1 system in baseball right now. Certainly not a sentiment echoed by most publications, but for better or worse, I’ve always liked that Keith does his own thing.

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Some may quibble with me describing this as a surprise, but with all the noise about how they’ve sold off all their best prospects and all the winning seasons they’ve put together, it should be difficult for the Dodgers to continue producing quality players, but it seems they’ve done it.

One thing I’ve noticed with the farm system over the past year is that while they lack obvious top-end talent for now (aside from perhaps Cartaya and Miller), they do seem to have an abundance of potential first-division regular type of players. That depth is important due to unavoidable attrition, and the Dodgers have one of the best development systems in baseball that should help prospects pan out more than not.

About Chad Moriyama

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"A highly rational Internet troll." - Los Angeles Times