Minor league baseball
From ArticleWorld
In 1930, the St. Louis Cardinal’s general manager made a comment about the minor league baseball that stuck. He joked that small the small town teams were “growing players down on the farm like corn.” Because of that offhand remark, minor league baseball and its teams now go by the nicknames farm system, farm team and farm club. Currently, 20 teams make up the farm system with 246 farm clubs throughout North America. The obvious purpose of the minor league system is to cultivate and develop players for the major league.
40 Man Roster
Each major league team holds a 40 Man Roster. During the regular season, the teams are held to a roster of 25. In the post-season, however, the major league teams may expand their teams and use the full 40 on the roster. When the full roster is not in use, the 15 players not on the regular season list either play for some minor league level or are injured and on the disabled list (DL). All players named on the 40 Man Roster are, in fact, members of the MLB but those that play in the farm system work at the lower, minor league pay scale. Those players on minor league teams that are not included on a 40 Man Roster are contracted to the major league team their club is affiliated with. Unfortunately, these players are not members of the union and therefore receive much lower wages than their 40 Man counterparts.
Farm system levels
The minor leagues can be divided into classes. These classes are divided according to the talent and major league readiness of its players. Each major league team must have affiliations with 4 of the minor league classes. In order, from highest class to lowest class, the minors are divided as follows:
- Class AAA-where the remaining 15 of the 40 Man Roster are located
- Class AA-foreign league veterans often placed here before moving to majors
- Class A-for those players who need more help honing their skills-divided into two groups
- High A-one level below AA
- Low A- often hold the current year’s draft picks
- Short-Season Leagues-played June through September. The purpose of the short season is to allow the major league teams time to move players around.
Divided into three groups.
- Short Season A- New York-Pen n League, Northwest League. Highest level of the short season leagues.
- Advanced Rookie League-Appalachian League and the Pioneer League. Comprised of recent drafts and 2nd year players.
- Rookie League-lowest level of the minors. Includes the Gulf Coast League, the Arizona League, the Dominican Summer League, the Venezuelan Summer League, the Mexican Academy League and newly signed draft picks.
Placement
The Director of Player Development is employed by the MLB to decide, with the help of managers and coaches, where the minor league talent should be placed. The minor leagues have a winter training camp and the majors have a spring training camp. Based on the talent in both camps, the Director of Player Development places players at the level of play that best highlights their ability.