Hence the return of this feature, which old-timers will recall from a run I did back in the early and mid-2040s. Basically, I ran through our BBA farm systems and simply counted up the number of players that OOTP rates at each various level of the 20=80 scale. Then gave them each a weighted value (i.e., an 80 gets 9 points, a 75 gets 8 points, and on down the line until we come to the 45 and 40 level, which I count in the list but give massively discounted points to. We’re going to get bumpers someplace, right? A team with fourty five “40s” has a deeper organization than a team with ten of them. So this system indicates that).
Regardless, I then do two calculations: (1) an overall score (wRank), and (2) A score with only prospects rated 60 and above (wRankTop). At that point, I create the little graph that plots both these ranks, hence creating a metric that gives us an idea of how every system in the league sits relative to its top-end as well as it’s overall depth.
That’s the theory, anyway.
One thing to note is that for this one I didn't use International complexes, and I simply used an age cut-off (25 or younger), and didn’t worry about whether a player was in the majors or not. So that makes the metric more about age-waves than “farm systems.” Maybe I’ll change that going forward? Dunno. Regardless, it is what it is for now. You can tell me it was wrong if you want.
Here’s the data:
Bottom line, Des Moines, Yellow Springs and Chicago all do well. Arguably, though, Portland (rated #5 by OOTP) is much stronger than any of them…and since I don’t use the majors/minors definition right gnow, Nashville still looks awfully proud. Omaha and Hawaii have nothing at the top end, and score poorly, but you can see Hawaii’s depth is a touch better.
Across the divisions, it’s not surprising that the Heatland scores top marks, but it is possibly surprising that the Pacific is in their slipstream. The Frintir is a step back, and the Atlantic—without a 70+ prospect at all—is far off.
What do you make of it? Well, I don’t know. But I like to look at this data considerably more than OOTO’s rankings, and I suppose that’s good enough for me.
