Atlanta Braves, Prospect Machine

While the Royals system is likely better at the top, the Atlanta Braves have an excellent farm system.  Over at MinorLeagueBall Jon Sickels ranks the Atlanta Braves top prospects for 2011:

1) Julio Teheran, RHP, Grade A: Second only to Hellickson and Chapman in my view.

2) Freddie Freeman, 1B, Grade A-: Great Triple-A performance at age 20 is rare. You can make a case for a pure Grade A.

3) Mike Minor, LHP, Grade A-: Borderline B+. I think he can be a number two starter. Right on the edge between those two grades for me.

4) Randall Delgado, RHP, Grade B+: Can also be a number two guy if all goes well.

5) Arodys Vizcaino, RHP, Grade B: Would also be a B+ if not for health concerns, but that's enough for me to hold him back a notch.

Three prospects grade A- or better is very rare and very awesome.  Even rarer may be the 14 prospects that Sickels ranks B- or above.  This is the same system mind you that lost 3  pitching prospects to the Cubs for Derek Lee.  It's also the same system that traded Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Matt Harrison, Elvis Andrus, and Neftali Feliz to the Rangers for Mark Teixeira a few years back; traded Jeff Locke (6th rated Pirates prospect), Gorkys Hernandez, and Charlie Morton to Pittsburgh for Nate McClouth; and graduated future (if not current) ace Tommy Hanson and future (if not current) all-star Jason Heyward to the big leagues in the last two seasons.

Basically, the Braves are a prospect powerhouse, constantly churning out solid prospect after solid prospect.  These guys don't go Alex Gordon on anyone either, they generally turn out to be above-average major leaguers. The Braves have some serious pitching depth to say the least.  Not many teams can trade major league ready pitching and/or great pitching prospects, but the Braves have the depth.  What that means is that the Braves, who already made the playoffs this year, should be good for the future as well since they have the luxury to trade for needs while still keeping the future in tact.

The Phillies have been the class of the NL for three years running now, but they're also starting to show their age with injuries to their (now older) stars and general decline in performance.  I wouldn't be so naive as to name the Braves as the best team in the NL, farm from it, but they do have a very nice future.  When Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman are anchoring the lineup and Julio Teheran, Tommy Hanson, and Mike Minor are heading the rotation all in their primes at an affordable price the Braves may find themselves as kings of the National League (again).