Minor League Ball: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
New Blog: Cowboy Altitude for Wyoming Fans!

Age Question

I have a question about a players age being relative to league.  Where could I find the average age of all the players from a league?  And what is traditionally the average age for players at all the levels?  Thanks, been looking around and for some reason couldn't find this info.

 

Filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler

0 recs  |  Comment 13 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

My take on it...

is if your considered a prospect you probably should fit in to these age ranges at these levels. (Of course if you are younger then its better)

AAA: 21-24
AA: 20-23
Hi-A: 19-22
Lo-A: 18-21
Rk: 17-19

Of course their are outliers to all these exceptions, but I think these are the ages most prospects play at these leagues in their career.

I am not sure if this was the info you were looking for.

by Zabat on May 6, 2009 12:24 PM EDT reply actions  

Average age isn't really important

Because there are plenty of old non-prospects at every level. Zabat provides a pretty good baseline for prospect analysis, though I think you should also factor in where they came from – high schoolers and foreign signees should be younger than guys who went to college, etc.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on May 6, 2009 2:01 PM EDT reply actions  

this is only for the leagues where the Rangers have affiliates

but it’s pretty useful:

http://rangers.scottlucas.com/site/2009minorage.htm

"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan

by Dirk Diggler on May 6, 2009 2:10 PM EDT reply actions  

A couple things...

Zabat’s scale is pretty good, with the caveat that if you hit the upper limits of it, people start to qualify performance with “but he was 22 in High-A, so we’ll see what happens when he’s tested at a more age-appropriate level.” The last age in each of those levels is where age starts to be discussed as a bit of a negative, with the exception of triple-A, where a lot of people stick around until age 24-25 due to lack of opportunity at the big league level, which shouldn’t reflect on their quality as a possible major league hitter quite as much.

The scale that BA makes a lot of their assumptions on is that “standard prospect age” operates something like this:

Low-A: 19-20
High-A: 20-21
Double-A: 21-22
Triple-A: 22-23

That’s the “right on track for a prospect” age relative to league assumptions. Anyone younger gets their age counted as a pretty big positive, and anyone older gets it counted as a bit of a negative as far as prospect status is concerned, with the caveat that individual players can figure things out at any time and at any level and turn into major leaguers.

The other thing is that age doesn’t matter anywhere near as much for pitchers as it does for hitters. This is partially because pitchers are so unpredictable, and partially because their age curve looks very, very different. It’s not at all uncommon for pitchers to peak at 23-25 rather than 27-30 for hitters.

For that reason, A 23-year-old who all of a sudden starts blowing away Midwest League hitters with an upper-90’s fastball, a sharp-breaking curveball, and a devastating changeup needs to be tested at higher levels, but you don’t discount his performance as merely a function of being older and more advanced. Major league stuff is major league stuff, no matter how old the arm that throws it is. All age tells you is the chance that this kind of player will turn in a hall-of-fame career. It doesn’t effect whether or not they should be considered potentially useful major leaguers. When these guys emerge as true major league talents they tend to fly, though. This is what happened to Mark Lowe during his meteoric 2006 season that saw him begin in High A as a 23-year-old and end with a 17 inning scoreless streak in the majors. Sticking with Seattle, it was pretty apparent that George Sherrill had a chance to be a true lockdown reliever with his stuff even though he was 28 and in Triple-A.

On the flipside, an 18-year-old succeeding in high-A with a mid-80’s fastball and a solid-average secondary stuff is interesting, but his age shouldn’t give him much of a boost. As risky as pitchers are, it’s foolish to dream on any of them or value them very highly until they have present major league stuff to go with their good pitchability. Yes, many projectable types see a huge uptick in their stuff, but it’s really not a good bet on any individual player. Deolis Guerra sparked huge debates a couple years ago because he had a sparkling ERA in the 2’s in full-season ball at a young age, but nothing in his repertoire of pitches suggested he could get major league hitters out until his stuff improved dramatically. It didn’t, and now he’s a fringe prospect at best.

by slamcactus on May 6, 2009 3:08 PM EDT reply actions  

+1

TheSouthWing.com - A Magazine of essays, prose and poems

by OldProspects on May 6, 2009 6:01 PM EDT up reply actions  

I'd say those ages are appropriate for high school draftees

By 23, a high school draftee will be nearing his six year minor league service marker, so it is expected that he should be nearing the majors by then, if he’s a real prospect. But college guys are viewed much better through Zabat’s scale. Just look at how many 22 year old first rounders have started their pro careers in A+ this year. Those placements are hardly aberrant, and there are a whole mess of prospects who aren’t going to move nearly as fast as these guys.

by aCone419 on May 7, 2009 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions  

Yes...

but the ones who don’t move fast always get comments in the BA handbook like “he’ll need to show something quick,” because they have very little margin for error. The standard track for your prototypical first-round college slugger is High-A for half a season and then a promotion to Double-A in their first full season. Not everyone advances that fast, but in order to be considered a top prospect, a college draftee can’t spend much time in A-ball.

by slamcactus on May 11, 2009 1:15 AM EDT up reply actions  

Baseball-reference

They don’t have it yet for 2009, but average ages for pitching and hitting separately, for every league, for 2008, are here:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/league.cgi?year=2008

I’ll add, the short season leagues are where guys tend to get sent after being drafted in June. A college junior is typically 21 when drafted. The top college players get sent to the top short season leagues. They maybe start the next season in A+, at age 22, if they are advanced enough, or could be in A- if they are less advanced.

If a guy is very recently signed or drafted, you have to be careful about saying they are too old for a level. Maybe you don’t get too excited about a guy putting up numbers in low A at 23, but it doesn’t mean he’s too old to be a prospect either, especially if he was just drafted. For a guy who was recently drafted, where he was drafted is often a good place to start as far as an indication of how highly regarded he is.

So I’m saying, you should take experience into account as well. Age is certainly a useful indicator, I’ve just seen it taken to extremes at times, to the point I’ve seen people say silly things like “we shouldn’t draft college players, they are too old”.

by acerimusdux on May 6, 2009 4:27 PM EDT reply actions  

Pretty good stuff so far, but a few additions

- College players operate on a different development curve than prep players. This would seem intuitive as the college game is very different from the pro game, but tends to get overlooked sometimes. I don’t start REALLY hating on a college player for not measuring up until he’s into his second full pro season.

- Sometimes, players need a lot of time to figure things out . . .but once they do, watch out. Sometimes guys take a long time to get out of A ball and then they take half a season from there to get to the majors. Sometimes guys spend a few years in AA learning how to play. Patience is a virtue . . .this is a big reason why scouting reports are so important.

- ARL is nearly useless for pitchers, in my opinion. Somebody else mentioned this above, but if a guy has the raw stuff to get by major leaguers, where exactly he happens to be honing his craft in preparation for it isn’t always a big deal. Pitchers need their time against good competition to get ready for the majors, but if a guy is 22-23 and still putting things together in A ball, it’s really not a big deal. A 95 MPH fastball is a dangerous weapon no matter who it’s being thrown to.

by mrkupe on May 6, 2009 5:23 PM EDT reply actions  

That being said

If a 23 year old has a 95 mph fastball and is still getting hit by A ball hitters, then there is probably something about the fastball that the velocity isn’t explaining

TheSouthWing.com - A Magazine of essays, prose and poems

by OldProspects on May 6, 2009 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions  

Entirely possible

But it might not be the fastball itself, it might be the command. Watch Jeff Samardzija against . . .anybody and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

One might argue that ARL can be applied to pitching in that a 20 year old obviously has more time to learn how to pitch than a 23 year old. I think this advantage is probably neutralized, though, by the huge attrition rate of pitchers in their lower 20s. For the rather small percentage of pitchers who make it through unscathed and without a reduction in quality of stuff, control, etc., ARL might apply.

by mrkupe on May 6, 2009 8:26 PM EDT up reply actions  

Precisely

Or it doesn’t move very well or it only occasionally reaches that speed or something else. But the point is that ultimately the scouting reports have to make sense with the statistical evidence

TheSouthWing.com - A Magazine of essays, prose and poems

by OldProspects on May 6, 2009 9:45 PM EDT up reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Minor League Ball: Where the Future of Baseball is Discussed
Start posting on Minor League Ball »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Zackgreinke2_small
milb 9/5
Hagerstown_suns_small
Milb 9/4
Small
Sept 3 minor league thread
Dustinpedroia_small
Strasburg
Sdc10109_small
Minor Leagues August 27Th, 2010

Recent FanPosts

Small
Mariners Prospects age 25-30 projections
Small
The Colby Rasmus Situation
Small
Twins purchase contract of Ben Revere
2001-bowman-chrome-auto-340-pujols_small
HR Power+Contact
Small
2010 Rookie Evaluations: AL East
Small
2010 Rookie Evaluations: AL Central
Bullpen_banter_logo_small
BB Top 10 1B Prospects

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

SBNation.com Recent Stories

Texas Rangers Michael Young, left, is held back by Texas Rangers third base coach Dave Anderson (obscured) after being called out at third by third base umpire Alfonso Marquez, front right, to end a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2010, in Minneapolis.  Rangers manager Ron Washington (wearing sunglasses) looks on. The Twins won 6-5. (AP Photo/Paul Battaglia) +1 updates

Twins Top Rangers 6-5 Thanks To Controversial Ump Decision

LOS ANGELES CA - SEPTEMBER 04:  Jamey Carroll #14 of the Los Angeles Dodgers is pulled off the bag as Darren Ford #34 of the San Francisco Giants steals second base in the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium on September 4 2010 in Los Angeles California. The Giants defeated the Dodgers 5-4.  (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) +1 updates

Dodgers' Slide Continues With 3-0 Loss To Rival Giants

BOSTON - SEPTEMBER 05: Jonathan Papelbon #58 of the Boston Red Sox heads for the dugout after he is pulled in the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox on September 5 2010 at Fenway Park in Boston Massachusetts.  (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

White Sox Score Four In 9th, Hand Jonathan Papelbon His Seventh Blown Save Of 2010

More from SBNation.com >


Managers

Bert_small John Sickels

Jeri_avatar_small mssickels

Authors

Small SethSpeaks

Favicon1_small ravensfan3

Moderators

Small mrkupe


Site Meter