Farm Futures: 178 AL East Prospects You Need To Know

Usually I use these divisional articles to write up every fantasy-relevant prospect in each team's farm system, but given the lack of a minor-league season in 2020, there's just not much new to say about a large percentage of the prospect universe. I am still going to rank the fantasy-relevant prospects in all 30 systems, and I've already written outlooks on the site for the majority of the top-250 prospects on my top 400. I'm also providing a list of prospects in each org. that could contribute in 2021 along with an overview of each system. 

Feel free to ask me any prospect-related questions in the comments or on Twitter.

ORIOLES

Players We Could See In 2021: Adley Rutschman, Grayson Rodriguez, Ryan Mountcastle, DL Hall, Keegan Akin, Yusniel Diaz, Terrin Vavra, Rylan Bannon, Dean Kremer, Michael Baumann, Kyle Bradish, Tyler Nevin, Jahmai Jones, Kevin Smith, Zac Lowther, Ryan McKenna, Alex Wells

Dynasty Overview: Based on what I've seen in dynasty and redraft leagues, every prospect in this system is either overrated (Mountcastle, Heston Kjerstad, Kremer, Jordan Westburg, Jones) or properly rated. DL Hall is one guy that I'm worried I might be a little too low on — he's in my top 100 obviously, but it's hard to reconcile his ridiculous stuff with his (to date) very shaky command. If Hall were to improve as a strike thrower, he could pitch at the top of a rotation pretty easily. I could be too low on Westburg as well, I just didn't like the way his athleticism seemed to be trending, and he struck out too much in college for a player who had trouble accessing his raw power in games. With Kjerstad, I see Mike Moustakas in left field. That's a really solid bat, but not one I'm prioritizing in dynasty leagues. That player archetype (three-category thumper) is not hard to acquire.

RED SOX

Players We Could See In 2021: Jeter Downs, Triston Casas, Tanner Houck, Bobby Dalbec, Jarren Duran, Bryan Mata, Hudson Potts, Connor Seabold, Ronaldo Hernandez, Eduard Bazardo, Connor Wong, Garrett Whitlock

Dynasty Overview: Downs and Casas are a 1A/1B duo at the top. Gilberto Jimenez and Blaze Jordan are polar opposites in terms of skill set, but they both have very high ceilings and could break out in the next year or two. I like Brainer Bonaci, Luis Ravelo and Kelvin Diaz as potentially undervalued deep-league fliers. There are a lot of interesting arms in this system, but most are over a year away from the big leagues. I might like Thad Ward more than the Red Sox do, which is mildly concerning, but I still think he could make some noise in the upper levels of the minors this year if he shows solid command of his deep repertoire.

YANKEES

Players We Could See In 2021: Clarke Schmidt, Deivi Garcia, Estevan Florial, Chris Gittens

Dynasty Overview: This is a pretty unique farm system in that only a small handful of the 30 fantasy-relevant prospects have a chance to reach the majors in 2021. I wouldn't completely rule out one of Luis Medina, Alexander Vizcaino or Luis Gil debuting out of the bullpen late in the year, but it wouldn't be in a fantasy-relevant role. Schmidt will be a faller on the next top-400 update due to his recent elbow injury, and he's completely off the redraft radar now, although hopefully he gets healthy and can be heard from this summer. The new buzzy prospect du jour is Fidel Montero, who is seen as the top prospect from their 2020 international class, even though he didn't get as big of a bonus as Hans Montero (no relation). These guys who pop late in the process can sometimes turn out to be huge risers in the ensuing years. Of course, this farm system is littered with hitters from the international market who performed below expectations when they came stateside, but Fidel has the power/speed tools we're looking for, it's just a matter of how much he hits.

RAYS

Players We Could See In 2021: Wander Franco, Randy Arozarena, Josh Lowe, Luis Patino, Vidal Brujan, Shane McClanahan, Shane Baz, Taylor Walls, Brent Honeywell, Brendan McKay, Kevin Padlo, Joe Ryan, Josh Fleming, Drew Strotman

Dynasty Overview: The Rays, who have the game's best farm system, are great at developing and acquiring talent, but they are still an undesirable location for our dynasty prospects. The bar to clear to be an everyday player or to be handled like a traditional starting pitcher is just so high, that we can assume guys like Brujan and McClanahan will not get a fantasy-friendly role immediately. We want our non-elite Rays prospects to get shipped to a different organization. Lowe, Heriberto Hernandez, Seth Johnson, Taj Bradley, Osleivis Basabe and Jose Pena are some of my personal favorites in this system. I'm basically out on Honeywell, as it's hard to see him making it as a starter given his extremely long injury history. I'm also quite low on McKay after being too high on him a couple years ago. He's more of a No. 4 starter than a No. 2, and this shoulder injury is quite concerning.

BLUE JAYS

Players We Could See In 2021: Nate Pearson, Simeon Woods Richardson, Alek Manoah, Alejandro Kirk, Julian Merryweather, Josh Palacios, Joey Murray

Dynasty Overview: This is my favorite system for pitching prospects (not saying it's the best, just my favorite), just edging out Kansas City in that regard. I've got at least one share of all the top arms other than Pearson. He's not technically prospect eligible due to days on the active roster, but I'm a huge Thomas Hatch fan, and he'd be a top-150 prospect if eligible. Manoah is a guy I'm probably higher on than most, yet I wish I had even more exposure to him than I do. I see frontline potential there if the changeup is indeed as good as it's rumored to be. I suppose it's possible that one of Austin Martin or Jordan Groshans could see the majors this year, but it would need to be as an injury replacement. Manuel Beltre and Estiven Machado are a couple of my favorite under-the-radar infielders from the last two international signing classes.