2020 Best Of Baseball America

2020 was an exceptionally challenging year for all, baseball included. From the restructuring of the minors, loss of games, shortened draft to the pushed back international signing period, we’ve done our best to cover the game the only way we know how — as thoroughly as possible.

Below is an array of stories we’re most proud of from 2020. You can navigate to specific sections using the links below.

You can find all of our rankings, which includes the Top 100, farm system rankings & more, here.

Minor League Restructuring

A Complete Guide To MLB, Minor League Negotiations

Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper was at the forefront of the changing minor league landscape for the better part of two years. You can follow his reporting step-by-step, beginning with the initial story explaining why MLB wanted to eliminate 42 teams and ending at present day, here. Read more…

MLB Lays Out Its Proposal To Run Minor League Baseball

Find MLB’s full proposal made to minor league owners on its plans to assume control and implement its own player development system. Read more…

‘The Wild West:’ MiLB Teams On The Chopping Block Scramble To Find MLB Partner

Teams moved swiftly to lock in MLB partners in the long-term. Read more…

Major Changes: Anonymous Sources Dish On Draft, Minors Restructuring

120 minor league teams. A potentially 20-round draft. We asked front office officials in MLB scouting and player development to give us their honest assessment of MLB’s proposed changes. Read more…

‘We’re In Dire Straits:’ MiLB President Paints Bleak Picture Of League’s Future

Without games in 2020 because of the pandemic, minor league teams incurred significant losses. Read more…

MLB’s Proposed Reorganization Falls Under Rob Manfred’s ‘One Baseball’ Vision

In some ways, minor league reorganization is just the tip of the iceberg. We explain Rob Manfred’s vision to get most levels of baseball, beginning with amateurs, aligned under the MLB umbrella. Read more…

How 4 MLB Teams Took Extreme Measures To Avoid Landing In The California League

Want to know why some MLB owners grew tired of the previous minor league structure? Scenarios like this one played a role. Read more…

PROSPECTS/FEATURES

The 15 Most Significant Minor League Achievements Of The Last 40 Seasons

Baseball America turns 40 years old in 2021. So we looked back in time and ranked the 15 most impressive achievements we’ve seen. Read more…

Players We Believe Could Make The 2021 Top 100

Here are 25 names who missed the 2020 Top 100, but could move onto next month’s 2021 update. Read more…

The 15 Best Teenage Prospects In MLB Summer Camp

We’re all about looking ahead. These were the brightest young stars taking part in Spring Training 2.0 this year. Read more…

20 For 2020s: Picking Baseball’s Biggest Stars Over The Next 10 Years

We kicked off 2020 by identifying the biggest names of the coming decade. Read more…

The Dodgers World Series Cements Their Place In History

Are the Dodgers a dynasty? We examined their place in baseball history. Read more…

Minor League Top 10s Paved The Way For BA Prospect Rankings

Everything we do was built on the foundation of top 10 rankings some 40 years ago. Read more…

Ranking Baseball’s Best Organizations At Winning In The Majors, On The Farm

A productive farm system often—but not always—begets winning in the major leagues. Read more…

Ten Of The Most Notable Minor League Top 10 Prospects Rankings Of All Time

Which Minor League Top 10s have produced the most major league value? Read more…

‘Cardinals Devil Magic:’ How St. Louis Keeps Maximizing Overlooked College Draft Picks

Just call it the Cardinal Way. Read more…

‘They’re The Model:’ How The Dodgers Player Development Machine Rolls On

The Dodgers have thrived in a system designed to prevent single-team supremacy. Read more…

MiLB.TV Broadcast Power Rankings: Hartford Leads The List

There’s a reason that the Yard Goats have an MLB quality production. Read more…

‘Welcome To Gas Camp:’ How The Mariners Get More Out Of Their Pitching Prospects

The nuts and bolts of Gas Camp vary depending on each pitcher’s needs. Read more…

The Toolsiest MLB Players Of The Past 30 Years

Baseball America has been documenting all the 80s in the big leagues since the ’80s. Read more…

FANTASY

Dynasty Hot 100: Your Fantasy Draft Guide To First-Year Players

We ranked the 100 best first-year dynasty baseball prospects prior to the 2020 season. Read more…

19 Prospects Who Impressed Scouts At Instructs This Year

A disjointed 2020 led to considerably less development time. Here’s what scouts saw once minor leaguers returned to instructional league in the fall. Read more…

15 Players Who Turned Scouts’ Heads At Spring Training

Before 2020 turned upside down, here were 15 players scouts were buzzing about based off their March performances. Read more…

MLB DRAFT

The 10 Toolsiest Prospects In The 2020 Draft Class

Typically a good barometer for impact in the pros, here’s a look at the toolsiest prospects drafted in 2020. Read more…

Explaining How The Five-Round Draft Hurts Talents For Years To Come

Shortening the draft to five rounds in 2020 was a decision that will have a multi-year impact on prospects and teams alike. Read more…

Phillies Pick Mick Abel Has A Chance To Buck Draft History

It’s rare for a prep righthander from Oregon to go in the fist round. Here’s what makes Mick Abel so special. Read more…

Draftpoint Technology Identified 10 Draft Sleepers To Know

We enlisted Pramana’s Draftpoint Technology to help identify sleepers in this year’s draft class. Read more…

Which Teams Got The Most Value Out Of The Five-Round Draft?

It was unusual, but there were still winners and losers from the draft. We broke it down. Read more…

Stock Watch: Explaining Why The JUCO Route Can Pay Off

Carlos Collazo’s annual stock watch series covered a variety of pressing questions in the lead up to the draft. Read more…

INTERNATIONAL

Million Dollar Outfielders: Profiling The Top Names In The 2020-21 Class

Ben Badler highlights the outfielders expected to sign the largest bonuses next month in the 2020-21 international class. Read more…

Meet Cristian Hernandez, The Cubs Target Some Call ‘Baby A-Rod’

The top international shortstop prospects have a strong track record in recent years. Meet the Cubs’ next high-profile target. Read more…

Top International Prospects Are Reaching The Majors Faster Than Ever

The biggest international times are spending less time in the minors. Here’s the data. Read more…

Highlighting The Best 25-and-under Stars From Latin America

We’ve entered a golden era of talent for Latin America. Here are the top names to know in the coming years. Read more…

COLLEGE

Ranking The 25 Best Uniforms In College Baseball

Which programs have the best threads? We ranked ’em. Read more…

Ranking The Top 50 Names In College Baseball In 2020

An annual classic, here’s our list of top names highlighted by Itchy Burts. Read more…

Prominent Coaches Debut Plans For ‘A New Model’ For College Baseball

Pushed back Opening Day. A new time for the NCAA Tournament. College coaches want to see significant change to the game, as we explain here. Read more…

Coaching Confidential: Who Is The Most Underrated NCAA Coach?

We polled coaches on a variety of topics this year, including who is the most underrated coach in the country. Read more…

Top 20 Teams Entering 2021 Based On MLB Draft Talent

We ranked the best teams in college baseball based off prospects currently ranked in our MLB Draft rankings. Read more…

College Baseball Transfer Tracker

Here were the most impactful transfers amid a busier-than-ever transfer window for college baseball. Read more…

10 Great Games You Can Watch On YouTube

We missed college baseball. Especially after the season was canceled. So we found some games you can watch at any time. Read more…

PODCASTS

We introduced the ‘From Phenom To The Farm’ podcast in 2020. Each episode is a conversation with a former high school star who jumped right to professional baseball, often struggling with such a difficult transition. You can subscribe to the show here.

Our most recent episode was a revealing conversation with former Angels prospect Brandon Wood, which you can listen to here.