Braves prospect rankings: Matt Olson trade guts Atlanta farm system

The Atlanta Braves prospect rankings aren’t what they once were, with the Braves shipping three top-10 prospects to the Oakland A’s for Matt Olson.

Olson is a top-tier first baseman, and at just 27 years old, he’ll be a reliable replacement for a franchise icon in Freddie Freeman.

So, what did the Athletics get in return? How about the entire Atlanta farm system. No, I’m serious. Atlanta’s top prospects — some of whom are major-league ready, are all headed to Oakland as part of this trade.

Braves prospect rankings

Atlanta traded away the following top prospects: OF Cristian Pache, C Shea Langeliers, SP Ryan Cusick and SP Joey Estes.

Pache was ranked No. 1 in Atlanta’s system, Langeliers was No. 2, Cusick was No. 6 and Estes was No. 14. Yeah, that’s enough to hurt any farm system.

MLB top 100 prospects

Per the new MLB top 100, both Pache and Langeliers are top-100 prospects. Pache comes in at No. 38, while Langeliers is No. 69.

Langeliers was a surprising addition to the deal, because it was expected the Braves would hold onto him in any trade for Olson. Dealing away the top-2 prospects in their own system makes it seem like they must’ve known Freeman was leaving.

Pache, for one, was posting on social media as recently as Sunday stating how much he’d like Freeman to stay. Ouch.