Colorado Rockies farm system ranked fourth best in baseball by MiLB.com

We've reached the time in the offseason when all top prospect lists are out, and the industry is shifting gears toward organizational rankings. Rockies prospects are peppered all over top prospect lists, so it's no surprise that well regarded individual talent will translate to praise about the farm system in general. To wit: MiLB.com ranks the Rockies' farm system fourth in baseball. The Dodgers, Braves, and Twins sit above the Rockies.

The strength of the system, according to the writeup is found among the system's position players, as they site Brendan Rodgers and Trevor Story specifically. Story might end up the Rockies' Opening Day shortstop. If he's not, he'll probably debut in April. Rodgers is a few years away, but he's poised to stake a claim as one of the best prospects in baseball this season. In fact, MiLB.com thinks the Rockies have the best group of position players, as they sat atop the site's position player farm system rankings. That's great, even acknowledging that it might not make a lot of sense to look at only position players. But hey, number one!

The Rockies are also strong in the pitching department (they rank ninth in the pitcher farm system rankings). With reference to Jon Gray, it's heartening that the write-up cites his 3.63 MLB FIP as a positive sign. Rockies fans would do well to scrub his 2015 ERA from their minds, as it does not look like a sign of things to come. Jeff Hoffman is another point in favor of the quality pitching prospects in the Rockies system. MiLB.com hints that Hoffman could see a big leap among rankings this season.

Elsewhere, Jeffrey Paternostro of Baseball Prospectus identifies Hoffman as a potential breakout prospect for the 2016 season. Notably, Baseball Prospectus already ranks Hoffman as the 24th best prospect in baseball. A "breakout" for him would mean catapulting to one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. Paternostro writes: "The sky is the limit for him, and he could easily be one of the elite pitching prospects in the game by the time our 2017 list rolls around. That's assuming he is not already logging innings for the Rockies rotation this Summer."

The usual caveats apply. Namely, a high farm system ranking does not guarantee future success. It sure helps though.