A Not-So-Idle Question About Short Season A Teams

[HoosierVic]

Out of curiosity and a genuine desire to understand this game better … what do GMs use their Short-Season A minor league teams for?

Mine tends to be something of a dumping ground for guys who didn't do especially well at the Rookie League level but aren't necessarily terrible enough to just cut outright. A very few are guys who show promise, but who I'm worried about exposing to a full Class A season (two-way player Paul Kemp was one of those - he had a so-so Rookie League start and I wanted to keep letting him pitch, but wasn't sure about having him do so for a full campaign.

Are there smarter ways to use Short A than just as a landfill for ain't-gonna-make-it players or, as Doug memorably dubbed his, an Island of Misfit Toys?

[jleddy]

For me it's:

*College draftees for the year they are drafted, some repeating that level if not highly rated or performing at below-league-average levels
*Top high school draftees for the year they are drafted
*Best rated or performing high school draftees from the season prior (promoted from Rookie Ball) for a season or two
*Backfilled with some stalled development 20-23 year olds and a few "ain't-gonna-make-it" international signees.

That last group are first to get released come the new season following the influx of new drafted prospects.

[7teen]

Last season it was my dumpster team.

This year I used it for the college draft kids that had already played some games this season. My top pick I placed in Short A because he had 57.2 IP already in 2041 in college and I put him there where he got another 90+ IP.

[RonCo]

I look at it as just another level in the chain of progression, and a way to ensure I'm getting playing time for the guys I really want to make sure they get playing time. Ultimately, every level is both a place to test my true prospects against age-appropriate competition as well as a dumping ground for guys who are not really ready (or even unlikely) to go up further.

I tend to run every level of my minors on production (stats) with a cautious eye toward ratings. So, baring extreme ratings oddities, guys who play well in R ball, will almost always find themselves up into SA...or guys who die in A-ball will find themselves demoted. My goal is often to put guys who are borderline players into position where they have max opportunity to bump ratings. I also have a fairly rigid mindset around ages. If you're 20 and still in my R-ball level, that's bad. Same for 21 and SA. 23? You'd best be in AA or you might be wanting to sharpen up your shoe salesman skillset. This season, though, I admit my time has been stretched, so the ship hasn't been run quite so tightly.

[Fat Nige]

My players that do well in R but perhaps only just above the average will go to SA as will any young 16-18 yr olds that do really well in R, I don’t like dropping them at that age into A.
As Ron said it’s another rung on the ladder, if you’re great you miss a rung and head for A, if you can just take a step forward you go to SA

[HoosierVic]

So, baring extreme ratings oddities, guys who play well in R ball, will almost always find themselves up into SA...or guys who die in A-ball will find themselves demoted.

So, do you try not to skip a rung, then? Do you ever send guys from the Rookie League to Single A without the extra step in between, or do you try to have everyone hit every rung? Or, are you talking about sending guys up mid-season rather than having them spend a full year at Rookie ball?

[HoosierVic]

My players that do well in R but perhaps only just above the average will go to SA as will any young 16-18 yr olds that do really well in R, I don’t like dropping them at that age into A.
As Ron said it’s another rung on the ladder, if you’re great you miss a rung and head for A, if you can just take a step forward you go to SA

Yeah - this is probably the closest to what I've been doing. But my Short A team tends to be a major Dumpster fire ...

[RonCo]

So, baring extreme ratings oddities, guys who play well in R ball, will almost always find themselves up into SA...or guys who die in A-ball will find themselves demoted.

So, do you try not to skip a rung, then? Do you ever send guys from the Rookie League to Single A without the extra step in between, or do you try to have everyone hit every rung? Or, are you talking about sending guys up mid-season rather than having them spend a full year at Rookie ball?

I will skip rungs as it seems to make sense..especially if age suggests its a good idea. I've often jumped players from AA >> BBA and from R >> A. It's rare (I think) to go from A >> AAA.

[RonCo]

And technically I guess that frame of reference is both for mid-season promotions and any other times.

I noted above that a lot of my views are about playing time, too. I'll leave someone down if it means playing time for more players. Robert Chenoweth stayed in AA all season this year because I wanted to get time for other AAA guys.

[Fat Nige]

And technically I guess that frame of reference is both for mid-season promotions and any other times.

I noted above that a lot of my views are about playing time, too. I'll leave someone down if it means playing time for more players. Robert Chenoweth stayed in AA all season this year because I wanted to get time for other AAA guys.

This is a big part of my strategy too, I won’t send anybody up who will end up playing 10-20% of the time. I’d rather have them mark time where they are than end up as a rarely used reserve at the higher level, I’d need to be comfortable with them getting 35-50% of the AB’s if they’re being promoted.
I just don’t feel it will help them if they go from mashing it 90% of the time at one level to getting 15-20% of the playing time at the higher level. Sure they’d probably learn from being at that higher level but they need to actually swing bats and throw balls to properly move forward