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blink · 10-26-2020, 03:31 PM

I try to stay on top of my farm system with a hands on approach. Generally, I will use the end of spring training to make sure all of my prospects are playing at the appropriate levels. The last thing you want is your top prospect struggling at AA when he should be a A-.

Once the season starts, I usually look at it every month to see how the prospects are progressing. If a guy is dominating a level, I move him up or if a prospect is struggling, I consider moving him down a level. You don't want to move too many guys down through levels in your system as the goal is an upward trajectory.

I look at ages. If I have an 18 year old prospect, yeah he probably starts the year at R level or maybe A-. If they are 21 or older and new to my system, I usually start them at A- or even A.

When I trade for prospects, I look at the stats and see what level they were at and judge whether they can handle a promotion or not.

At the All-Star Break, I go through my system again and grant promotions or demotions. And again, at the end of the season I will make some progressions prior to the Rule 5 draft and FA period.

You do need to do the following.

- Ensure that your top prospects are playing the position you want them to play. The worst scenario is when the AI blocks your top prospect by playing a 28 year old career minor leaguer ahead of them. Force start your prospects who you really want to develop.

- Look at their stats and judge when they can be moved up. Some prospects will dominate levels right away, others will take more time. I don't usually look at ratings or stars but I do base my promotions on stats.

- Make sure each minor league team has positions properly allocated. What I mean by this is make sure there aren't 5 catchers on your AA team. I'm not sure how strict you are with rosters but I usually find that having around 30 players per minor league team works well. Because of injuries you do need those extra players to fill in.

- Pay attention to which prospects are injured and make sure you do have enough minor league talent to fill those holes. If not, promote a player to fill in.

- I have the AI decide on minor league lineups but I do force start my top prospects and make sure that I've got all of the positions properly covered off and ensuring that most of the guys on the team will all see playing time. You don't want 8 OF's on a minor league team when you realistically only need 4-5. If you need to release or make trades, do so.

- I find the game (at least in OOTP20) loves to turn SP into RP so I always look to make sure that the guys I do want to be in the SP role are set to that. Nothing worse than simming a few months at a time and finding out that your top SP prospect has been closing out games down in A ball.

- If you have Independent leagues on, make sure you are scouting them frequently as well. I've been able to find some real gems in the independent leagues and add them to my system. I've noticed the AI has done that as well with Indy league players turning into MLB success stories.

If you do want to have a successful farm system, you do have to cultivate it a bit and make sure you are paying attention to it. Promote/demote players when necessary and make sure that you don't have any positional logjams.

Also, if a player is ready for the Majors at AA, don't be afraid to jump him right up into the majors. They don't necessarily have to play AAA. Most of my prospects I do like to have them play a bit of time at AAA level but in some cases, it's really not necessary. You can usually tell when a player is ready for the majors based on age and ratings.

10-26-2020, 03:31 PM	#7
blink Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 220	I try to stay on top of my farm system with a hands on approach. Generally, I will use the end of spring training to make sure all of my prospects are playing at the appropriate levels. The last thing you want is your top prospect struggling at AA when he should be a A-. Once the season starts, I usually look at it every month to see how the prospects are progressing. If a guy is dominating a level, I move him up or if a prospect is struggling, I consider moving him down a level. You don't want to move too many guys down through levels in your system as the goal is an upward trajectory. I look at ages. If I have an 18 year old prospect, yeah he probably starts the year at R level or maybe A-. If they are 21 or older and new to my system, I usually start them at A- or even A. When I trade for prospects, I look at the stats and see what level they were at and judge whether they can handle a promotion or not. At the All-Star Break, I go through my system again and grant promotions or demotions. And again, at the end of the season I will make some progressions prior to the Rule 5 draft and FA period. You do need to do the following. - Ensure that your top prospects are playing the position you want them to play. The worst scenario is when the AI blocks your top prospect by playing a 28 year old career minor leaguer ahead of them. Force start your prospects who you really want to develop. - Look at their stats and judge when they can be moved up. Some prospects will dominate levels right away, others will take more time. I don't usually look at ratings or stars but I do base my promotions on stats. - Make sure each minor league team has positions properly allocated. What I mean by this is make sure there aren't 5 catchers on your AA team. I'm not sure how strict you are with rosters but I usually find that having around 30 players per minor league team works well. Because of injuries you do need those extra players to fill in. - Pay attention to which prospects are injured and make sure you do have enough minor league talent to fill those holes. If not, promote a player to fill in. - I have the AI decide on minor league lineups but I do force start my top prospects and make sure that I've got all of the positions properly covered off and ensuring that most of the guys on the team will all see playing time. You don't want 8 OF's on a minor league team when you realistically only need 4-5. If you need to release or make trades, do so. - I find the game (at least in OOTP20) loves to turn SP into RP so I always look to make sure that the guys I do want to be in the SP role are set to that. Nothing worse than simming a few months at a time and finding out that your top SP prospect has been closing out games down in A ball. - If you have Independent leagues on, make sure you are scouting them frequently as well. I've been able to find some real gems in the independent leagues and add them to my system. I've noticed the AI has done that as well with Indy league players turning into MLB success stories. If you do want to have a successful farm system, you do have to cultivate it a bit and make sure you are paying attention to it. Promote/demote players when necessary and make sure that you don't have any positional logjams. Also, if a player is ready for the Majors at AA, don't be afraid to jump him right up into the majors. They don't necessarily have to play AAA. Most of my prospects I do like to have them play a bit of time at AAA level but in some cases, it's really not necessary. You can usually tell when a player is ready for the majors based on age and ratings.