MLB's most valuable commodity isn't sluggers with prodigious power, innings-eating workhorses or flame-throwing relievers. It's prospects, players in their teens and early 20s who have yet to establish themselves at the game's highest level.
Teams are loathe to trade them, for prospects represent not only hope for the future but an inexpensive way to build a roster—at least in the short term. We need only look at recent success stories in Chicago, Kansas City and Pittsburgh for proof of that.
What follows is a look at the best that the minor leagues have to offer, level by level. We'll hand out three awards for the upper levels—Breakout Star of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player—and a Cy Young Award and MVP Award at the lower levels, as most of those players are just starting their careers.
Statistics were the driving force behind these selections, but prior experience and age also factored into the process. Some of the following names are familiar, while others you may be seeing for the first time.
Who made the biggest impact down on the farm in 2016? Let's take a look.
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