Farm System Breakdown – #5: G.I. Zo’s

For an explanation on the distinction between the “Exponential” and “Linear” rankings given below, please refer to my earlier post “Farm System Primer”. I know it’s tedious, but I had just enough details that I felt needed to review, that I didn’t want to start off each Farm System Breakdown post with 4 paragraphs of jargon. And of course, any questions, feel free to inquire within.

Top 30 Rank (Exponential/Linear): 5/4
Total Rank (Exp/Lin): 4/2
Average of Total Rank (Exp/Lin): 8/7
Average Prospect Grade/Risk (Exp/Lin): 50.8/High / 42.3/High
Total Prospects: 70

Groups of 15 Rankings

Organization Prospect Rankings

MPTK = “More Players to Know” section of Handbook, DC = Depth Chart of Handbook, 21IFA = IFA signed and drafted in 2021, NL = Not listed in handbook under any sections

Summary

Speaking of more prospects, oof. Ok, so, the G.I. Zo’s have had a plan for a couple seasons now: step 1) burn it to the ground, step 2) invest in high end talent that’s a ways away, step 3) sit on them for 3-4 seasons until they all pop around the same time, step 4) profit. I’d say in the early going, so far so good. Now, do you NEED 70 prospects to pull that off? Not really. I mean, with 90 man rosters, and 30 man MLB rosters, that means the G.I. Zo’s MLB roster is carrying 10 rookie eligible names. Perhaps a touch overkill, but you certainly can’t pretend that the Zo’s aren’t executing.

As for the quality of talent they’ve acquired, this is likely the best example of quantity over quality in the CPL. Don’t get me wrong, Skubal and Kelenic are obviously very talented prospects and Jasson, Deivi, Oneil and Patino are also very respectable. But the tippity top is lacking that wowza name (at least if you’re going by the BA Handbook). What the Zo’s currently lack in mind blowing upper tier talent, they make up for in just raw, unabashed number of prospects. After Patino, you have 10 remaining higher tier prospects (similar to Rollin’ Goats franchise), but the “guys” tier is more along the lines of what we’d expect with 18 names featuring such gems as Ed Howard, Dillon Dingler (hehe), Greg Jones and Robert Puason. In further contrast to the Goat’s, it’s the fringy/role player tier that’s the shortest in the Zo’s franchise with only 14 names reporting. Incredibly, there is still 20 prospects in the system that are below the fringy/role player tier, with 6 of them not being listed anywhere in the BA handbook.

As already stated, there’s simply too many names to even do each tier of prospects justice, not to mention doing the entire farm . The expected graduations of the likes of Skubal, Kelenic and Patino shouldn’t negatively impact this farm valuation too much, as not only is there still a ton of names to fill out the top 15, but some of the lottery tickets are bound to pop, probably even still in 2021. I expect this farm to continue to rise up the ranks in the next 3 years or so, partially because of the farms ranked higher suffering value loss from graduations, and prospects in the Zo franchise reaching maturity.

Write it in stone, the G.I. Zo’s will compete for the worst record in the CPL for the next 3 seasons, while the farm competes for the #1 overall farm ranking in the same duration.