Player Development Strategy

[collins923]

I'm doing a franchise as the Red Sox and they have a strong farm system. Has anyone noticed if players develop at the same rate in the majors as they do in the minors? Also do they develop at different rates in different levels of the minors? I know potential means what their overall max is, but can't decide if my minor leaguers are developing faster than my major leaguers.

This is an online franchise by the way.

[Ghost Of The Year]

Quote: Originally Posted by collins923

I'm doing a franchise as the Red Sox and they have a strong farm system. Has anyone noticed if players develop at the same rate in the majors as they do in the minors? Also do they develop at different rates in different levels of the minors? I know potential means what their overall max is, but can't decide if my minor leaguers are developing faster than my major leaguers. This is an online franchise by the way.

Doesn't age also factor into this as well?
A 32 year old isn't going to progress at the AAA level, while a 23 yr. old will.
The only reason I can think that a 23 yr. old would progress more at the AAA level faster than in the big leagues is if the 23 yr. old AAA'er was a starter & had more playing time & the 23 yr. old at the MLB level was a benchwarmer. Which if true, would be good because IRL, you don't want to call up a top prospect to the MLB level & then just sit him. You want him down in the minors getting some PA's.

[collins923]

I agree with you there, however I feel like my 23 yr old catcher (B potential) who is playing everyday and succeeding in the majors is not professing as quickly as my 23 Ye old catcher (B potential as well) who is in the minors. Can't seem to figure this one out.

[Ghost Of The Year]

Quote: Originally Posted by collins923

I agree with you there, however I feel like my 23 yr old catcher (B potential) who is playing everyday and succeeding in the majors is not professing as quickly as my 23 Ye old catcher (B potential as well) who is in the minors. Can't seem to figure this one out.

Hmm. I wonder if because a minor leaguer is playing against inferior competition, it makes the MLB'er progress more slowly for playing against stiffer competition. I haven;t even thought that completely through, that if it is that way, should it be that way.
On the one hand, if you'd want to keep a guy in the minors til he hits a certain OVRALL rather than he slowly get to that OVRALL in the Majors, But then, you've lost some prime years if you keep him in the minors too long. Really, maybe the idea is to have, for example, a 23 yr. old B potential player in the minors & the same in the Majors. Then when you're ready to dump the MLB'er, you trade him for prospects & promote the minor leaguer to replace him. One way to keep your minors stocked if the draft isn't your thing.

[pierre682]

Ive had minors that strived in the minors and were like 21 with b potential and a 73 but when i called him up his overall went down.. So i think its a bunch of factors that go into the process of developing young prospects..

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by collins923

Has anyone noticed if players develop at the same rate in the majors as they do in the minors?

Depends on how they are performing. If the kid is ready and doing well in the majors, he'll develop well. If he's overmatched and doing rather poorly - that performance factor could slow him down.

I haven't really noticed it too much in terms of speed by level.

For me the big difference is performance. This is where level might matter indirectly in terms of being overmatched or not. I don't know if "challenge" matters, i.e. making sure prospects face some adversity and solid competition without being overwhelmed and forcing them to learn bad habits just to survive. It should to a degree, but not sure if it does now.

As far as speed - I think that might just depend on performance and potential.

For example, I have a 24-year-old Russell Parrot. I called him up because he destroys LHP and that would be a clear role for him at the majors. He's batting like .400+ vs LHP and his contact vs LHP has shot up to 99. He got like 10 points in month or two. However, since he's bumping up against his POT, he's losing points in power vs both L and R. I'm training his Vision/Discipline/Clutch so they are going up - will see how he does going forward. Wonder if his power will keep dropping to "make room" for his increasing attributes, or maybe he'll push his POT up.

Then I have Freddie Aquino in AA. He's got power but he's not managed to make any contact. I can't comfortably promote him AAA because he just can't put the bat on the ball. He's losing power so his time might be running out. Promoting him to the majors probably would not help him, nor moving him back to AAA>

Maybe the most striking example is Tyler Kolek. From day one, he's struggled badly with control and it's hurt his production. Level didn't matter. Demoted him from AAA and he still kept falling. Fell out of A potential and hasn't pulled his OVR into the B range either. Now that he's succeeding a little (finally) in AAA, he's got a few positive growths. I did promote him to the majors due to an injury to see what he'd do. His development didn't change due to a mixed bag performance. Due to all his struggles, he's gained 4 OVR points in 6 years.