Farm Futures: 113 NL East Prospects You Need To Know

Usually I use these divisional articles to write up every fantasy-relevant prospect in each team's farm system, but given the lack of a minor-league season in 2020, there's just not much new to say about a large percentage of the prospect universe. I am still going to rank the fantasy-relevant prospects in all 30 systems, and I've already written outlooks on the site for the majority of the top-250 prospects on my top 400. I'm also providing a list of prospects in each organization that could contribute in 2021 along with an overview of each system. 

Feel free to ask me any prospect-related questions in the comments or on Twitter.

ATLANTA

Players We Could See In 2021: Drew Waters, Ian Anderson, Cristian Pache, Kyle Muller, William Woods, Tucker Davidson, William Contreras, Jasseel De La Cruz, Daysbel Hernandez

Dynasty Overview: What Atlanta has done over the last few years is exactly what every team is trying to do: they've graduated quality, impact big leaguers from their farm. The result of that is a system lacking in depth, but there's nothing wrong with having a shallow farm if the big-league club is an annual threat to win 90-plus games. There are still plenty of prospects poised to help the big-league squad this year, although after the big three at the top, we're mostly talking about relievers and catchers. Michael Harris, Ambioris Tavarez and Bryce Ball are understandably trendy dynasty names in the middle portion of the top 400. William Woods, Mahki Backstrom and Yoansy Moreno are under-the-radar breakout candidates.

MARLINS

Players We Could See In 2021: Sixto Sanchez, JJ Bleday, Max Meyer, Jazz Chisholm, Edward Cabrera, Trevor Rogers, Lewin Diaz, Jesus Sanchez, Monte Harrison, Braxton Garrett, Nick Neidert

Dynasty Overview: This is the best system in this division, almost by default. The Marlins are absolutely flush with pitchers, shortstops and outfielders. It will be a meritocracy in the outfield in the coming years, so players like Kameron Misner, Peyton Burdick, Sanchez and Harrison will need to make the most of the opportunities they are given. Rogers is going to rank ahead of Cabrera on the next update (coming around Opening Day), in part because Cabrera is dealing with an arm injury after also dealing with one last year, and in part because the buzz about Rogers coming out of Marlins camp has been hard to ignore. I thought I was pretty high on Rogers to rank him as a borderline top-100 prospect, but I don't think I was high enough. Part of the reason I'm lower on Lewin Diaz than some is because I think his ceiling is basically Garrett Cooper, who is criminally underrated, and Jesus Aguilar is better than Diaz right now as well. I could see Meyer getting his feet wet in the big-league bullpen to close the year, which would be really fun.

METS

Players We Could See In 2021: Khalil Lee, Thomas Szapucki

Dynasty Overview: This is one of several extremely shallow systems in this division. Fortunately for the Mets, unlike the Phillies and Nationals, they're probably a 90-win team at the big-league level, but there's very little on the farm that will help them this year. The top 5-7 guys are all very exciting, but they're all at least a year or two away. Matthew Allan has become my favorite teenage pitching prospect in the game, and projects to be the game's top pitching prospect in a year, health permitting. He's a guy who could reach the majors well ahead of schedule in 2022. Jose Butto is the sleeper in this org., to the extent there is one.

PHILLIES

Players We Could See In 2021: Spencer Howard, Francisco Morales, Bailey Falter, Rafael Marchan, Adonis Medina, Mickey Moniak

Dynasty Overview: This is like the Mets system, just without that exciting position player talent at the top. When Bryson Stott is your best hitting prospect, things haven't gone very well on the talent acquisition front. Johan Rojas and Yhoswar Garcia have a chance to be big risers this year, but there are hit tool concerns with Rojas and hit and power concerns with Garcia, although they are both big-time stolen base threats. I've been a big Morales fan for a while, but his future may be as a shut-down closer if his changeup doesn't come around. Falter was a lefty command specialist prior to 2020, but there are reports his fastball ticked up in instructs, so he could break out this year.

NATIONALS

Players We Could See In 2021: Cade Cavalli, Jackson Rutledge, Tim Cate, Seth Romero, Steven Fuentes

Dynasty Overview: A clear bottom-three system in the game, the Nationals have a formidable top two pitchers who have upside and proximity to the majors working for them. After that, however, we're looking at high-risk international hitters who are unproven against full-season pitching. Andry Lara and Daniel Marte will join the top 400 on the next update, so the Nationals at least run 8-10 players deep with players who are worth consideration in really deep dynasty leagues, but there are no prospects in this system who are both good and safe.