Baseball America confirms reports of Yankees farm system's demise were premature

FACT: Fans would have a lot more faith in the Yankees' farm system if the franchise had managed to develop more than two five-WAR offensive players between 2007 and 2023 (Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner, look it up).

ALSO FACT: Contrary to popular belief (among Twitter trolls), the current farm is not barren. In fact, things are going pretty well down there, as confirmed again this week by Baseball America's rankings.

According to BA's ordered list, the AL East is likely to be a bear for years to come. The Baltimore Orioles, as per recent custom, again earned the No. 1 spot, with Jackson Holliday ranking as the No. 1 overall prospect as he works his way through the system.

In fact, four-fifths of the East made the top half of the rankings, with only the Blue Jays out in the cold. That should make for a pretty good off-field rivalry between experts, as BA favors the AL East much the same way MLB Pipeline defends the NL Central. The Pirates, Brewers, Cubs and Reds rank Nos. 2-5 on Pipeline's midseason system update; Boston is 16th, while the Yankees have slipped to 21st after graduating Anthony Volpe.

Show of hands if you prefer Baseball America's take?

Baseball America ranks Yankees' farm system 11th overall in MLB

This is contrary, of course, to what FanGraphs thinks of the Yankees' minor-league pipeline; they've got the Yankees 25th and the Red Sox an ungodly fourth. Tragically, BA seems to be in agreement on the Sox, placing them fifth. Every rose has its thorn.

As discussed last week when BA revealed their new Top 100, the experts seem to believe the Yankees possess a large quantity of top prospects without necessarily having a player in their system with (likely) superstar quality. To paraphrase Don Draper, though, "That's what the money (and also Aaron Judge) is for!"

Seven Yankees made Baseball America's re-ranking, but none of them ranked above Oswald Peraza (No. 57), while Chase Hampton (No. 58, as well as MLB Pipeline's fastest-rising Yankee) and Jasson Dominguez (No. 64) slotted in just behind. Ideally, the aforementioned Arias makes an impressive leap next season, while Dominguez and Spencer Jones vault closer to that upper echelon.

Either way, No. 11 is nothing to sneeze at, especially when every other piece of Yankees conversation feels like a doomsday proclamation.