OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - My Annual "Why only 5 levels of minors" Thread

Le Grande Orange · 06-21-2008, 01:10 AM

What KySteveH is getting at is that, in real life, there are seven different minor league classification levels:

AAA
AA
A-Advanced (a.k.a. "High A")
A (a.k.a. "Low A")
A-Short Season
Rookie Advanced
Rookie

OOTP, for its part, only recreates five minor league classification levels as it combines the two Rookie levels into one and combines the two full-season A levels into one. The real minor leagues have been divided into seven classification levels since at least 1990.

The Rookie Advanced and Rookie distinction is important because Rookie leagues are "complex" leagues, that is, they play their games at the spring training complexes of their major league parent clubs or other similar training sites. Such teams do not represent city/towns as do Rookie Advanced and higher level clubs, and no admission price is charged to attend Rookie league games. The four Rookie leagues (Arizona, Gulf Coast, Dominican Summer, and Venezuelan Summer) can be thought of as being instructional leagues rather that traditional, for-profit leagues.

Rookie level teams are all owned and operated entirely by their major league parent clubs who pay for all the costs associated with running these leagues. Also, the Professional Baseball Agreement (PBA) explicitly excludes Rookie class leagues from the number of minor league clubs the majors are obligated to support via player development contracts (PDCs). MLB is only required to support the 160 minor league teams which exist from AAA down to Rookie Advanced; this means the majors can do whatever they want with the four Rookie leagues (e.g. expand and contract the leagues however they wish).

06-21-2008, 01:10 AM	#19
Le Grande Orange Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Up There Posts: 15,644	What KySteveH is getting at is that, in real life, there are seven different minor league classification levels: AAA AA A-Advanced (a.k.a. "High A") A (a.k.a. "Low A") A-Short Season Rookie Advanced Rookie OOTP, for its part, only recreates five minor league classification levels as it combines the two Rookie levels into one and combines the two full-season A levels into one. The real minor leagues have been divided into seven classification levels since at least 1990. The Rookie Advanced and Rookie distinction is important because Rookie leagues are "complex" leagues, that is, they play their games at the spring training complexes of their major league parent clubs or other similar training sites. Such teams do not represent city/towns as do Rookie Advanced and higher level clubs, and no admission price is charged to attend Rookie league games. The four Rookie leagues (Arizona, Gulf Coast, Dominican Summer, and Venezuelan Summer) can be thought of as being instructional leagues rather that traditional, for-profit leagues. Rookie level teams are all owned and operated entirely by their major league parent clubs who pay for all the costs associated with running these leagues. Also, the Professional Baseball Agreement (PBA) explicitly excludes Rookie class leagues from the number of minor league clubs the majors are obligated to support via player development contracts (PDCs). MLB is only required to support the 160 minor league teams which exist from AAA down to Rookie Advanced; this means the majors can do whatever they want with the four Rookie leagues (e.g. expand and contract the leagues however they wish). Last edited by Le Grande Orange; 06-21-2008 at 01:17 AM.