Baseball, for many years, shunned the college players and instead looked to high school baseball players and then developed them through the minor league system.
The major league had to create their own training system, the minor leagues, as college baseball was never exceptionally popular, so less money and practice would go into it.
College players finally gained some traction in the late 1970s when the NCAA lengthened the college playing season for baseball.
Becoming an MLB player does not require going to college, and professional baseball players do not need post-secondary credentials. For many players, the pursuit of a baseball career begins at an early age with little league experience.
Rookie ball, low-A, high-A, AA, AAA, and different fall/winter leagues are among the minor baseball leagues.
Going straight from HS to the major leagues is almost unheard of, and going from college baseball to the majors in the same season is fairly uncommon.
Basketball players frequently enter the NBA the year after high school and can immediately start making an impact. Due to the game’s physical nature, the NFL mandates that players be three years out of high school before joining.
This is a feature of baseball that I adore. For every type of guy, there is a role. All the way up to the enormous power hitters and starting pitchers, tiny, quick, and agile guys make their mark with singles, stolen bases, or elite defense.
Without further ado, let’s dive right in!
Why MLB Players Don’t Have to Go to College
In baseball, learned skill predominates over natural athleticism.
This ability rarely reaches a world-class level in the early 20s and requires time to develop fully. The majority of studies indicate that position players peak around age 27. (and pitchers even later).
The minor leagues serve as a tier system for baseball skill development rather than colleges. There is an established relationship between age and expected MLB performance. You have a lower chance of making it to the MLB if you are older than this age and compete at this level.
And, as we said, baseball never had a major college presence, at least compared to football and basketball.
By the time the NFL became significant, college football was already huge. By the time the NBA became significant, college basketball was much more established.
Even though excellent college baseball is available today, the minor leagues serve as a comparable step for most top high school draftees.
Furthermore, controlling a player in your minor league system, where your top priority is preparing him for the Majors, is far preferable to sending him to college, where his coach’s priority will be to win whether the pitcher’s arm falls off in his first year as a pro or not. This is especially true for pitchers.
Why MLB Players Require So Much More Minor League Time
Baseball is a very unpredictable game, and getting hits is challenging, so it can be difficult to tell who is a good player.
Due to numerous factors, including the difficulty of hitting a round object against another round object, the size of the field, the advantage of the pitcher, the distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate, etc., baseball is very inconsistent.
Example. The worst guy in the league can go 5/5 on any given day, while the best player can get five strikeouts. It’s crucial to be consistent. Because of this, batting average and on-base percentage are crucial metrics.
Consider it similar to gambling in that it essentially displays the “odds” of a player reaching base. You wouldn’t ever wager on a player getting a hit over another player with a 30% chance if the player had a 20% chance of doing so.
Because of this, they play so many games and have to move through so many minor leagues.
There are still exceptions, though. For instance, someone like Joe Mauer struck out four times in his entire high school career. Sort of just proves this player is so much better than the rest. The guy doesn’t need to go through minor leagues.
The Difference Among Other Sports
Sports like basketball and football have more transferable metrics at the high school and collegiate levels. It matters a lot more if the player’s big, strong, or fast.
You can tell if a wide receiver at LSU who is 21 years old has good hands and can catch contested balls or not.
You can tell if a power forward who is 19 years old is capable of making a 15-footer, handling the ball, and blocking shots.
There is literally no way to tell if an 18-year-old high school player can handle breaking balls in the Major League, and college graduates have little to no chance of doing it either.
Therefore, you must gradually advance these players so that they can adjust as they encounter increasingly better competition.
Because of the system in place, many of the most talented players start their professional careers at 18, and athleticism isn’t as important in baseball as in other sports.
The thing that the vast majority of players introduced into farm systems fail is actually the foundation of the entire system.
In a way that doesn’t occur in the NFL or the NBA, even a sizable portion of the top 25 prospects in the game fail. In the NFL, it’s frequently thought of as a major issue if you don’t get your first-round pick at the end of the draft. Within MLB? That is merely a reality.
The farm or minor league system is there to refine these players’ abilities against other high-quality players, and top prospects often don’t succeed in this elevated level of play.
As players improve and demonstrate that their tools will carry over into the big leagues, they move up and finally have a shot at the show. Most players don’t make it to the bigs.
The Importance of Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
A hierarchy of Major League Baseball-affiliated professional baseball teams is known as Minor League Baseball or MiLB.
Every MLB team has a network of minor league teams (also known as “farm teams” or “farm leagues”) that are used to develop players. To put it another way, each MiLB team has a contract with a Major League team.
For instance, the New York Yankees have teams in every minor league, from the rookie ball in the Dominican Republic and GC League in Florida, all the way down to the greatest level of AAA (or “triple A,” which is currently the Rochester, NY-based Empire State Yankees).
Almost all MLB baseball players began their careers in the minor leagues. Players enter the minor leagues at the bottom of the ladder and work their way up, sometimes skipping a level or two till they reach the Major Leagues.
In each scenario, the rate of player advancement can vary greatly. It’s possible to run into players who have been in the MiLB for 15 years or guys who have only just made it through the minor leagues and are already playing in the major leagues.
I remember this article from Forbes that spoke about the profitability of the minor teams.
They encourage fans in smaller markets to attend games while also supporting and promoting the large market teams, which keeps them interested in the majors, especially when one of their “local” players is mentioned. It’s unlikely to be solely about talent development, in my opinion.
Some of the biggest cities in North America are home to Major League Baseball franchises. Minor League teams are located in areas that few people are familiar with. As a result, emphasizing the country’s smaller regions increases the value of the minor leagues.
It provides an opportunity for those who might not have a local team to come together and support one. The Minor League Baseball team in many cities is the only team available, so rooting for your hometown team together gives many fans a sense of pride they wouldn’t experience anywhere else.
Minor League Baseball holds significance for fans of each team. They still significantly impact their communities even though they might not receive much national attention.
If you’re not from the area, you might not be familiar with Bowie, where the majority of MLB superstars began their careers. People who have a local baseball team and those who want to see the future star of their favorite MLB team should pay more attention to minor league baseball.
