[Poppo6247]

Originally Posted by kq76

Yeah, I've never heard of either those and I've been playing the game off and on since 2002 (not a typo). EDIT: My guess is someone in this communication chain, who I don't know, has misunderstood something someone else has said.

I myself don't worry too much about dev, I let the AI handle most of it. However, from what I've read and think, you don't want a prospect not to be challenged enough (dominating the league they're in for a long time), but you also don't want them to be in over their head (getting crushed). It's a goldilocks situation, you want them to be at just the right level. I also wouldn't base this too much off their ratings, but more off their stats.

I definitely wouldn't promote them to the bigs unless: 1) I was sure they were ready and they were probably not going to be overwhelmed, and 2) I really needed them and I knew I'd be able to get them playing time. If they either struggle in the majors or they don't get much playing time there, it's probably going to hurt their development a lot more than had you left them in AAA.

You also don't want to prematurely bring them up as it will start their service clock. And I'm not someone who will keep a good prospect down to get another year out of them, but unless they fit the above criteria there's no sense in starting the clock. Besides, at some point in the future you're going to want the flexibility to option some players to the minors, but if you brought them up too early you'll probably end up unnecessarily burning their options faster than you otherwise would have.

I'd say try him at AA, or AAA, your choice. (I'm assuming he's tearing it up in A, but if he's not, leave him there.) Watch his performance for the next few weeks or more and if he's doing awesome, consider promoting him. But if he's not, he's just doing alright, leave him where he is.

Yeah, he had a 2.57 ERA in 108.2 innings at A. I agree, it's likely that someone misheard or is misremembering this mechanic. I've been playing a while and I've also never heard of it.