Yankees Farm System Jumps to Top 5 in MLB

2016 was an impressive year for the Yankees farm system. And the best is yet to come.

Catcher Gary Sanchez was the obvious revelation that the Yankees fans had hoped for for years. To say he had one of the best rookie debuts seen in years would be an understatement.

Games played: 53
Hits: 60
Doubles: 21
Home runs: 20
Runs batted in: 42

Dude is just 24, and he's going to destroy pitching with the swing he has, in Yankees stadium.

The Yankees also made some pretty incredible trades at the deadline.

Andrew Miller for outfielder Clint Frazier and pitchers Justus Sheffield, Ben Heller, and J.P. Feyereisen. Clint Frazier is a beast, and he could be a monster in the Bronx.

Aroldis Chapman for minor-league shortstop Gleyber Torres, minor-league outfielders Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford. Gleyber hasn't quite hit the point where he's managing to put all the tools together to become an All-Star, but he's not far from it.

Carlos Beltran for Dillon Tate. Tate was the Rangers #5 prospect, and had a few injuries that set him back. However, now that the Yankees played it conservative with him the final month of the season, his fastball is back to topping out at 97 mph.

Now, not all of those players are going to make it to the majors. If you got 25% to contribute, you're a huge winner. But those are the moves that set organizations on a winning path for a very long. As a matter of fact, Baseball America listed Frazier and Torres, 2 new players I just mentioned, as the top 2 prospects in the system.

And they were so good that the Yankees system, that was BARREN for so long, jumped from #13 in 2015 all the way to #2 at the end of 2016. Keith Law is the resident minor league baseball prospect guru at ESPN, and it's hard to argue with his logic. It's a phenomenal turn around for an organization that just a few years ago had very few bright spots. Now, the future is very bright indeed.