Takeaways from MLB prospect lists: Franco can't lift Rays above Padres

The five main MLB prospect lists are out, and Tampa Bay Rays phenom Wander Franco was named No. 1 on every single one. However, between MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus, and The Athletic, that's where the agreement stops.

On Monday, theScore combined all five publications, assigning points to every prospect based on where they ranked to create a composite list.

Now, it's time to break down everything we can learn from the five lists, which, in total, named 144 different prospects.

Best farm system

For the purposes of this exercise, each prospect is assigned a score based on where they place on a list - 100 points for first, one point for 100th. With five lists, the best possible score is 500 (first on every list), which Franco achieved.

By tallying up all the scores, we have a rough idea of which team has the best overall farm:

Despite Fernando Tatis Jr., Chris Paddack, and Francisco Mejia graduating to the big leagues while also dealing away Luis Urias and Logan Allen, the San Diego Padres have the best farm system in baseball for the second consecutive year. That's largely thanks to key arms in lefty MacKenzie Gore (4) and right-hander Luis Patino (14).

Remarkably, the Rays boast the best overall prospect and are tied with the Atlanta Braves for the most total prospects named on the five lists, but couldn't usurp the Padres. That's seemingly partly due to the fact four of Tampa's farmhands are named on three or fewer lists, including Brent Honeywell (94), who has seen his ranking fade due entirely to injury.

Another fun and informative way to evaluate farm systems is seeing which team has the most consensus top-100 prospects. The Padres and Miami Marlins lead the league in that respect, each employing five players who are named on all five lists. That's a massive change from last year for the Marlins, who had the 28th-ranked farm system in baseball, according to our composite calculations. Now, Sixto Sanchez (29), JJ Bleday (38), Jazz Chisholm (50), and Edward Cabrera (67) seem pretty close to can't-miss guys.

Worst farm system

The Milwaukee Brewers are far and away the worst in baseball, particularly after graduating Keston Hiura this past season. Now, middle infielder Brice Turang (120) is the only prospect in the system of any notoriety, and he was named on one list.

The next six teams are all so close we chose to include them all instead of rounding it off after the Cleveland Indians. A mere 102 points separate the 29th and 24th system.

Along with the Brewers, the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox were the only teams without a consensus top-100 farmhand. The Rangers had five total prospects named, which is a good sign. That system is led by outfielder Leody Taveras (77) and 2019 draftee Josh Jung (82). Meanwhile, the Red Sox had newly acquired Jeter Downs (66) as well as Triston Casas (79) named on four lists, both being omitted from Baseball Prospectus' evaluations.

Best prospects to go unranked on one list

For the second year in a row, Keith Law put Chicago White Sox second baseman Nick Madrigal outside of his top-100 list. The diminutive former fourth overall pick was ranked as highly as 13th by Baseball Prospectus and is typically lauded for his speed and bat-to-ball prowess. However, his lack of power - four homers across three different minor-league levels last year - seems troublesome.

Law - formerly of ESPN but now with The Athletic - was actually the outlier on the next two prospects to be omitted as well. Braves outfielder Drew Waters - ranked as highly as 26th by MLB Pipeline - and Chicago Cubs shortstop Nico Hoerner - ranked as highly as 40th by Baseball America - were excluded from Law's list. Waters seems to project well defensively as a center fielder but his plate discipline - 43 strikeouts in 26 Triple-A games last year - needs work.

Best prospects named on one list

Some lists just really like a guy that the other four didn't even bother ranking.

That's the case with Braves left-hander Kyle Muller (104), who got ranked 60th by Baseball Prospectus. It's also the case with Marlins left-hander Braxton Garrett (105), who The Athletic had at No. 62.

Muller, 22, has the tools but has struggled to put it all together, running into significant walk trouble last year at Double-A. Meanwhile, the 22-year-old Garrett was seen as an astute selection out of high school at seventh overall in 2016 but wound up requiring Tommy John surgery. Now, the lefty seems to be back on track, striking out 26.9% of hitters at High-A before earning a promotion to Double-A last year.

Most and least polarizing prospects

Outside the top 10, every list seems to have a pretty good idea of who Padres shortstop CJ Abrams (21) is. Abrams is ranked as highly as 22nd (by Baseball America and FanGraphs) and as low as 33rd (by Baseball Prospectus) after 34 professional games since being taken sixth overall in the 2019 draft.

More interesting, though, is where the lists disagree. Among players named on all five lists, Carter Kieboom (24) seems especially difficult to place. While MLB and FanGraphs both agree he's No. 21, Baseball Prospectus has the Washington Nationals second baseman at No. 11 and The Athletic has him at No. 74.

A little bit further down the list is Minnesota Twins outfielder Alex Kirilloff (36). The Athletic has him as high as No. 9 while Prospectus has him way down at No. 86. The discrepancy is likely due to the fact he required Tommy John surgery back in 2017, which has slowed the 22-year-old's development.