Kiley McDaniel, ESPN MLB Insider 2y

Prospects who have taken the biggest step forward in 2021 for all 30 MLB teams

MLB, Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals

As the minor league season comes to a close, it's time for me to start collecting notes across all 30 farm systems of the low-hanging fruit among the biggest movers from my preseason prospect lists.

After a 2020 season in which almost none of these prospects played an official game, there are scores of prospects who received a ranking because they have tools and positive alternate site/instructional league buzz, but no actual performance in real games. Almost all of them do now. 2021 was an oasis compared to last winter being full of "this guy looked good once or twice and the other team was trying, trust me," type reports.

I won't commit to another reranking of the Top 100 or a new future value grade for anyone just yet, as there's still more movement coming in fall leagues before the offseason lists come together.

It's a real bummer to rank the biggest drops in prospect status, so the next step after my midseason Top 50 in reordering all of my prospect lists is pinpointing the biggest gainers in prospect value within each organization, with a number of honorable mentions.

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