The Colorado Rockies are, yet again, ranked among the bottom five farm systems in baseball

The Colorado Rockies still have one of the worst farm systems in all of baseball.

Unfortunately for the Rockies, this has been a recurring theme in recent years but after their 2021 Draft, the Rockies still have a farm system that is among the bottom five in baseball.

According to Baseball America (subscription required), the Colorado Rockies have the 26th best farm system. That is, by far, the worst amongst the five teams in the National League West.

The San Francisco Giants, who enter Tuesday with MLB’s best record, lead the NL West with the fifth-overall farm system. The Arizona Diamondbacks, who have the worst record in baseball by one game and are 39 games back of the Giants in the NL West, are second among NL West farm system rankings at 13th overall.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are both well above the Colorado Rockies in Baseball America’s rankings

The Los Angeles Dodgers are third in the NL West in Baseball America’s farm system rankings at 15th and the San Diego Padres are fourth in the NL West at 17th overall. The Colorado Rockies are well behind the Padres with their 26th overall ranking.

The Colorado Rockies added outfielder Benny Montgomery with the 8th overall draft pick in the 2021 draft. The Rockies also drafted pitchers Jaden Hill, Joe Rock, and McCade Brown among the top 79 picks in the draft. Additionally, the Rockies acquired pitchers Case Williams and Noah Davis as the trade return from the Cincinnati Reds for Mychal Givens just a few weeks after the draft.

Williams was the Rockies 4th round draft pick in the 2020 draft before they traded him to Cincinnati this past offseason when the Rockies acquired minor league outfielder Jameson Hannah and MLB reliever Robert Stephenson in return for Williams and pitcher Jeff Hoffman.

One of the Rockies’ biggest dilemmas moving forward will be to gain ground in those farm system rankings. They have figured out that their pitching must be homegrown (or spend time pitching at altitude in the minor leagues, like Germán Márquez, who was originally drafted by Tampa Bay) to succeed at Coors Field. That has been shown by the Rockies’ recent draft picks as pitchers have been 14 of their 26 draft picks in the last two drafts (one of the 14 did not sign).

Now, if they can use the homegrown talent in combination with some smart free agent signings or trades, the Colorado Rockies could become a good team, like the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, the Rockies have not shown that they are capable of doing that yet.