[RchW]

By rule minor league players injured in the minors cannot be placed on the 60-day DL. The 60-day DL has other implications as any player on it accrues Major League Service time which could affect his arbitration and FA status.

Minor League Baseball[edit]
Minor League Baseball uses a 7-day disabled list for all injuries. Players who are on the 40-man roster but get hurt in the minor leagues are placed on the minor league DL, but not on the major league DL. One problem this poses is that a player who is injured in the minors and who would be placed on the major league 60-day DL cannot be placed on the 60-day, meaning the 40-man roster spot is not freed up.

The freed-up roster spot can be strategically valuable, leading to occasional creative use of disabled lists by MLB teams and their affiliates (similar to teams appealing or dropping the appeal of a suspended player to maximize player contribution). Players who are performing poorly and are slightly injured might be put on the DL so they can go to the minors on rehab, when the MLB club might only want them in the minors because they are playing poorly. There are rules against blatantly "gaming the system" in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and the league.

A team may keep an injured player on the roster but keep him listed as 'day-to-day' to indicate that the medical staff is unable to determine when the player can resume normal playing activities again. If the injury turns out to be minor, then the player may resume playing without having to wait to come off the disabled list; however, depending upon the circumstances, the team may find itself effectively shorthanded in the meantime.

Players recovering from an injury may appear in a limited number of minor league games while still on the disabled list in order to prepare for reactivation. Non-pitchers may stay in the minor league club for up to 20 days; pitchers for up to 30 days.[7]