Royals and Rays lead Baseball America farm system rankings - MLB

Kansas City had a record nine players in Baseball America‘s annual ranking of the top 100 prospects, including three guys in the top 10, so it’s no surprise that BA‘s farm system rankings released today have the Royals in the top spot.

It’s also no surprise that the Rays rank second, as Tampa Bay claimed BA‘s top spot in three of the past four seasons.

Bringing up the rear are the Brewers and Marlins, who both ranked among the top 15 farm systems in 2010. Milwaukee gutted their prospect crop to acquire Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, while Florida called up most of its top prospects to the majors last year.

As usual with BA there’s a ton of worthwhile content beyond just the rankings, as Jim Callis provides a rundown of each farm system’s strengths and weaknesses.

Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN when the defending World Series champion Houston Astros host the Chicago White Sox on opening day.

Clemens made four appearances on last year’s KayRod Cast with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. He will be stepping in on March 30 for David Cone, who will be doing the New York Yankees opener against the San Francisco Giants on YES Network.

“Roger has been sort of a friend of ours for the last year, so to speak, he’s in. He’s been engaged, knowledgeable and really present,” said ESPN Vice President of Production Phil Orlins. “You know, whatever past may be, he’s still tremendously engaged and he really brought that every time he was with us.”

Clemens was a seven-time Cy Young winner but his career after baseball has been tainted by allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. He is a Houston native and pitched for the Astros for three seasons.

Orlins said that with the rules changes and pitch clock, it is important to have a pitcher in the booth with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“We don’t feel like we have to have the dynamic of Eduardo with a pitcher, but we certainly think that works. Throw in the added factor of rule changes and it is better to have a batter-pitcher perspective,” Orlins said.

Orlins did not say if this would open the door for future opportunities for Clemens as an ESPN analyst.