Farm Futures: 129 NL Central 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.

CUBS

Players We Could See In 2021: Brailyn Marquez, Miguel Amaya, Adbert Alzolay, Cory Abbott, Christopher Morel, Alfonso Rivas

Dynasty Overview: The Cubs have the makings of a near-perfect rebuild, and they didn't have to deal Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo or Kyle Hendricks to get to this point. They are loaded with high-upside, up-the-middle position player prospects — Brennen Davis, Cristian Hernandez, Ed Howard, Reginald Preciado and Ronnier Quintero could be the nucleus of the next great Cubs team. Additionally, after seemingly going a decade without drafting and developing a quality big-league starter (remember, Hendricks came from the Rangers), they now have 9-10 starting pitchers on the farm who have a legitimate chance to make it. They could trade from their nucleus this year to further bolster the farm, but even if they don't, I expect this system to rank in the top five in baseball a year from now.

REDS

Players We Could See In 2021: Jose Garcia, Nick Lodolo, Jonathan India, Tyler Stephenson, Jose De Leon

Dynasty Overview: This system always seems to be really top heavy, but now there is no top, just a middle and a back. It didn't have to be this way — they did what you sometimes see in dynasty leagues where a team tries to rush a rebuild and compete a couple years ahead of schedule, trading away Jeter Downs and Josiah Gray for veterans who are long gone at this point. Downs and Gray would have made for a nice 1-2 at the top of the system. Fortunately, Rece Hinds was a revelation at instructs and could be a top-50 prospect by season's end. Austin Hendrick could climb that high as well, but I'm taking a wait-and-see approach with regards to his hit tool. India will rank higher on the the pre-Opening Day update to the top 400. The sneaky strength of this system in a couple years could be the position players from Latin America that they signed on Jan. 15. It was the best overall haul from this past J-2 signing class, as any of Carlos Jorge, Malvin Valdez, Ariel Almonte, Jose Serrano and Brayan Rijo could really pop in the next couple years. 

BREWERS

Players We Could See In 2021: Aaron Ashby, Ethan Small, Alec Bettinger, Dylan File

Dynasty Overview: The Brewers have some nice up-the-middle pieces, but they are all unlikely to debut before 2022, and most of them are relatively unproven against advanced pitching. Their best pitching prospect, Antoine Kelly, is also over a year away. There are some No. 3-5 starter types who are nearing their big-league debuts. Unfortunately, Bettinger and File are injured, but there's a chance they could get healthy in time to help the rotation or the bullpen in the second half. After Hedbert Perez, Jeferson Quero is the best player they've signed on the international market in recent years, but he's a catcher who hasn't made his pro debut, so it's hard to get overly excited at this stage.

PIRATES

Players We Could See In 2021: Ke'Bryan Hayes, Travis Swaggerty, Jared Oliva, Cody Bolton, Miguel Yajure, Jose Soriano, Luis Oviedo

Dynasty Overview: This is the best and deepest farm system in the division, but the Cubs are closing in fast. Unlike Chicago, Pittsburgh's system is more about depth than top-flight talent, although Hayes, Nick Gonzales, Oneil Cruz and Quinn Priester could all be four-plus win players if they max out. Rodolfo Nolasco somehow flew under my radar prior to this offseason, but he'll be added to the top 400 on the next update, and Sergio Campana may join him. The Pirates' lower-level teams could be really fun this year, and I'd expect a few of those position players to really break out.

CARDINALS

Players We Could See In 2021: Dylan Carlson, Zack Thompson, Justin Williams, Johan Oviedo, Angel Rondon

Dynasty Overview: Like with the Reds and the Brewers, this system really tails off after the top half-dozen guys. I love Robelin Lopez's bat speed and all-fields approach, so he could pop this year, and Tink Hence and Edwin Nunez have pretty high ceilings but are extremely risky. Other than that, there's really not much to see here outside the top seven. Once Carlson graduates, this will be a bottom-five system and possibly a bottom-three system, depending on how Nolan Gorman is doing against upper-level pitching.