Originally Posted by ThePretender
I'd recommend ignoring stats of players to be perfectly honest. I've never found them to be accurate for prospect development. And whoever tells you players need X amount of time in the minors...well, I'd ignore that advice too. They can play their game that way, but every prospect is unique and needs to be treated as such.
As others have said, every prospect is different. When you play a league for an extended period of time you learn what points a player is ready for each level by their ratings. For instance in one league when a pitcher has 40/40/40 overalls I know he's ready for A, or 40 contact and 35 avoid K, ready for A ball. Learn what the cutoffs are for your league. And learn what age a player should be for each level (20-21 A, 21-22 AA, 23 AAA). Anything older (by end of season) is unlikely to develop or a risky prospect. Oh, that's another thing. Don't just look at age, look at birth month as well. A 21 year old who turns 22 in April is a bit old for A ball. A 21 year old who is 22 in Sept is fine for A.
Make sure to teach guys with good IF/OF ratings multiple positions. Don't just let your 85 CF play CF the whole time in the minors, teach him RF and LF so he can have flexibility when he's in the majors. Do this for any player of significance, whether it's a superstar or a bench guy. You have no idea how frustrating it is to watch other GMs in online leagues have guys who can be elite super subs or Ben Zobrist guys, stuck at one position. Especially for guys like SS/CF where as they get older range declines, they already have experience to play another spot down the line. So you don't have to trade your CF or teach him RF in the majors, you can shift him to RF when you need to because you taught it to him in the minors. In one league I traded for a guy who could only play RF, taught him LF, and it's paying off so much, as this year he's started 60+ games in LF and 40+ in RF with another month to go in the season. Flexibility is a huge, underrated asset.
If a prospect is older I might challenge them to a higher level than normal.
I like to focus on contact/avoid K for hitters development and stuff/control for pitcher development. Not that those are the best ratings I seek in a player, but I've noticed those are usually my telltale signs for when a player is ready to move up. Movement is usually so far ahead during development, and gap/power/eye will come at a good pace. But avoid K, control, those are usually the last to develop and when those go up, I know a player is ready.
I've had guys go from R to AAA in a year, and some guys repeat a level 2+ years in a row. You can't simply say a guy needs 100 innings or a full year at a level, because you need to adjust development for each prospect.
I can't recommend using stats for dev. Some people use it, but for me, I see a 500 OPS guy with a below average wRC+/OPS+ and his ratings are increasing. So I'll trust the ratings increase over the stats, which would say he's struggling. I'd promote a guy with a 500 OPS+ or 80 ERA+ if the ratings say he's ready.
Also, I'd promote any int complex prospects right away, even as early as 16/17. They tend to develop so fast if you send them to the minors. I have one guy who I sent to R at age 17, and went from A ---> AAA at age 18, and he's a MLB ready CF. By the time he's 19 or even 20 he's going to be a middle of the order bat with Kevin Pillar/Kiermaier calibre defence. Right now he's only good enough to be a #9 hitter, but had I left him in the complex I doubt he develops as quickly. My 20 year old C is borderline MLB ready as well, and I promoted him to rookie ball at age 16. He's probably going to be a middle of the order type bat by the time he's 22. I find in every version they develop so quickly if you send them to the minors. In a previous version (OOTP 16) I had an int spec in the minors at 17, MLB ready by 19 (held his own in Sept, 100 OPS/wRC+), as a 20 year old he had a 135 wRC+, and at 22 he's a 150 OPS+/149 wRC+ bat and he still has more upside. So I will always recommend promoting int spec guys ASAP.
I avoid low pitch "SP". So a guy with 2/8 change up, they rarely fill out, so they end up being RP. They're trade bait to me, as other GMs think they'll fill out, but long term they're RP. Recognize this before age 23 and use them to get more developed younger players. If you think a hitter/pitcher might bust/decline, flip them ASAP.
Some people swear by intelligence/work ethic - to me, that's a tie breaker. I'll take a very low work ethic prospect if he's significantly better than a good, but not elite high ethic player.
Anyway, hope this helps.
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