Groups from the East and West divisions have dominated baseball currently — it’s important to return to the 2016 Chicago Cubs for the final time a workforce from the Central received a World Sequence.
However might that be altering within the close to future? If MLB Pipeline’s newly up to date High 100 Prospects record is any indication, which may be the case.
We have damaged down our preseason 2025 rankings quite a lot of methods and now flip our consideration to how the divisions stack up. After all, it is price noting that High 100 prospects will not be the identical as farm rankings, depth of expertise is simply as essential, however that is a method of top-end expertise that is nearing the Majors.
Similar to final 12 months, the NL Central has probably the most High 100 prospects amongst MLB’s six divisions, however there’s fairly a change after that:
High 100 Prospects breakdown by division:NL Central: 23AL Central: 22AL West: 15AL East: 14NL East: 14NL West: 12
The AL Central is the large riser, going from 15 to 22. The White Sox are an enormous a part of that enchancment (two in 2024, six in 2025), particularly after touchdown Kyle Teel (No. 32) and Braden Montgomery (No. 55) as a part of the return for Garrett Crochet.
That additionally means the 2 Central divisions make up nearly half of the High 100 prospects in baseball. Which is a fairly vital place to be contemplating their markets and payrolls are usually smaller than that of their coastal rivals. Among the many seven groups with 5 or extra High 100 prospects, 4 hail from Central divisions.
The opposite 4 divisions are pretty balanced on high prospect expertise, which is a change from 2024. Final 12 months’s record included 20 prospects within the AL East and 18 within the NL West, with simply 9 from the AL West. Provided that this was the primary preseason rankings since 2019 with no less than one participant from each workforce, it is no shock that the power of every division is nearer.
Past simply the sheer amount of top-end prospects, we will additionally assess high quality by grading gamers on Prospect Factors. On this fundamental system, the No. 1 prospect is price 100 factors, the No. 2 prospect is price 99 factors and so forth. Here is how the divisions shake out with their high prospects and rankings in parentheses.
AL Central: 1,286 (Walker Jenkins, Twins, No. 3)NL Central: 915 (Bubba Chandler, Pirates, No. 15)NL West: 783 (Roki Sasaki, Dodgers, No. 1)AL East: 774 (Roman Anthony, Crimson Sox, No. 2)AL West: 686 (Sebastian Walcott, Rangers, No. 17)NL East: 606 (Dylan Crews, Nationals, No. 4)
By this measure, the AL Central has pulled nicely forward of the NL Central. The hole between them is bigger than the hole between the NL Central and the last-place NL East. Having three of the six finest prospects in baseball — Jenkins, Detroit’s Jackson Jobe (No. 5) and Max Clark (No. 6) — and 12 within the high 40 goes a good distance towards working up that whole.
In truth, the AL Central’s rating of 1,286 is the very best mark MLB Pipeline has ever recorded. We expanded to a High 100 in 2012, and the earlier finest was the 2017 NL Central (1,215), a gaggle led by Alex Reyes (Cardinals), Tyler Glasnow (Pirates) and Austin Meadows (Pirates) within the High 10 that featured 9 gamers within the high 30.
In the meantime, the AL West might have the third-most prospects among the many divisions, however as a result of Walcott and Colt Emerson (No. 20) are its solely prospects within the high 30, it falls towards the underside of the Prospects Factors record.
We have taken a have a look at how the divisions examine to one another, however what concerning the leagues? Altogether, they’re fairly even, with 51 within the AL and 49 within the NL, and even the purpose totals (AL: 2,746, NL: 2,304) are in the identical ballpark. However that belies the variations between the composition of prospects.
AL East: 13 hitters (761 factors), 1 pitcher (13 factors)AL Central: 19 hitters (1,038), 3 pitchers (248)AL West: 12 hitters (555), 3 pitchers (131)NL East: 7 hitters (317), 7 pitchers (289)NL Central: 15 hitters (537), 8 pitchers (378)NL West: 9 hitters (577), 3 pitchers (206)
American League groups have nearly 50 % extra hitting prospects than the Nationwide League (44 vs. 31), they usually have an excellent greater share of Prospect Factors (2,354 vs. 1,431). In the meantime, 18 of the 25 pitching prospects on our High 100 come from the Nationwide League, together with an 873-392 benefit in Prospect Factors.
The AL Central’s dominance is even clearer when damaged down this manner. It carries extra worth simply in its hitters than any division has in whole — and has three pitchers among the many high 35 prospects as well.
