Kuzul

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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Just three weeks remain in the 2016 MLB regular season, and while a handful of teams appear to be locks for the postseason, there are still a number of playoff spots up for grabs.

The Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals both look like safe bets to win their respective divisions, while the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants will duke it out in the NL West and the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets will fight for an NL wild-card spot.

On the AL side, the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers are sitting pretty, but the AL East is a dog fight with the New York Yankees pulling into the mix along with the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles. The Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals and hard-charging Seattle Mariners are all in the mix for a wild-card spot as well, so there’s a lot still to be decided on the AL side in particular.

Meanwhile, non-contenders are taking a long look at some of their young talent while simultaneously trying to play the role of spoiler.

At any rate, there was a good deal of shuffling in this week’s rankings (like always) as we head down the home stretch.

One thing remains true: These rankings are a fluid process as teams move up or down based on where they ranked the previous week. If a club keeps winning, it will keep climbing—it’s as simple as that.

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We’ve reached the point in MLB‘s regular season when all duds are no longer created equal. With September pennant races and furious battles for positioning in the wild-card races ongoing, every game takes on more importance than it did earlier in the season.

As such, the struggles of a player on a contending team are, in most cases, going to count more than those of a player on a non-contender when it comes to filling out our 10-player roster, which features one player per position, including a designated hitter and starting pitcher.

In other words, season-long mainstays on our All-Dud squad—such as the San Diego Padres’ Derek Norris—need not worry about making a repeat appearance down the stretch. Not unless their performances are so outrageously grotesque that we’re forced to take note.

If Norris didn’t make this week’s roster, who did? Let’s take a look.

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Perhaps no single player can be more valuable to a team’s success in the postseason than Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

While he had a disappointing outing on Friday in his first start after more than a two-month layoff due to a disc herniation, a healthy Kershaw can only positively affect the direction of the Dodgers’ season.

Which other MLB teams saw their road to the playoffs change course?

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The MLB playoff push is reaching a fever pitch, but the minor league playoffs are underway at most levels. As such, it’s a good time to look at the breakout prospects of 2016.

Every team has a handful of elite prospects that casual fans know by name, but without fail there are always a handful of relatively unknown players in each system who push their way into the top-prospect conversation.

Whether they’re from a talented player returning from injury, a promising prospect repeating a level with increased success or a low-level minor leaguer turning raw tools into on-field production, breakout performances come in all shapes and sizes.

So here’s a look at each club’s biggest breakout prospect of 2016, as well as a few honorable mentions also worth keeping an eye on.

Note: Preseason prospect rankings refer to the 2016 Baseball America Prospect Handbook.

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The divide between MLB contenders and pretenders is smaller than ever, increasing the impact of each contributor on the roster.

As many as 19 teams are in the postseason running with less than a month remaining. Most of them can thank the new wild-card format, as no division outside the American League East hosts an intense neck-and-neck race.

With so many teams ravaged by injuries, clubs are learning the importance of depth. No one star can carry a team to the World Series. Just ask the Los Angeles Angels.

These guys aren’t MVP or Cy Young Award candidates, but they have blossomed into indispensable players vital to September and October success. Let’s take a look at each team’s most unheralded performer over the first five months of 2016.

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When September rolls around, it means rosters have expanded and we’re now less than a month away from the start of the 2016 MLB postseason.

The Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians and Washington Nationals can rest easy knowing they’re all but a lock to make the playoffs and safe bets to win their respective divisions. Outside of those four teams, there’s still a lot to be sorted out.

The AL East features four legitimate contenders and what is shaping up to be a two-team battle between the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays for the division title, while three games separate the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in the NL West standings.

The Detroit Tigers and New York Mets were the biggest risers in this week’s rankings. They’re getting hot at the right time in their push for a wild-card berth, while the Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins are quickly playing their way out of contention.

At the bottom of the rankings, the Atlanta Braves put together an unlikely 6-0 week to climb several spots, and the Minnesota Twins finally won a game.

As always, one thing remains true: These rankings are a fluid process as teams move up or down based on where they ranked the previous week. If a club keeps winning, it will keep climbing—it’s as simple as that.

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Right now, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman looks to be a genius.

He had arguably the best July of any baseball executive. Cashman traded several of the team’s talented veterans for a haul of prospects that now give New York one of baseball’s best minor league systems.

He was able to get Alex Rodriguez to retire and Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann to accept lesser roles all to make way for a group of talented young players who have the Yankees back into playoff contention.

Did you know, though, that more young players will continue to have an impact as we head into September?

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The push for the MLB playoffs is now in full swing with roughly five weeks remaining in the regular season.

Whether a team is contending for a postseason spot or looking to play spoiler while evaluating its young talent, the month of September is always an exciting one.

For the first time in several weeks, we have a new team inside the top five of our MLB power rankings, as two of the league’s elite posted 2-5 records this past week to open the door for the Los Angeles Dodgers to climb.

The Houston Astros and Kansas City Royals also stayed hot to move inside the top 10, while the Miami Marlins, Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals all ran into trouble with a pair of series losses.

At the bottom of the rankings, a winless week by the Minnesota Twins leaves them just 1.5 games up on the Atlanta Braves and within striking distance of claiming the No. 1 pick next June if they continue to struggle.

As always, one thing remains true: These rankings are a fluid process as teams move up or down based on where they ranked the previous week. If a club keeps winning, it will keep climbing—it’s as simple as that.

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A trip to the corner store to see the candyman might find someone walking out with a pack of Milk Duds. A trip to Citi Field to see the Grandyman (Curtis Granderson) is likely to find fans of the New York Mets walking out having seen an expensive dud.

The veteran slugger leads the way on this week’s All-Dud team, filling right field on a 10-player roster—one per position, including a designated hitter and starting pitcher—that put together disastrous performances over the past seven days.

Besides Granderson, who is coming off a week to forget? Let’s take a look.

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