When to promote prospects?

[extremeskins04]

Hey guys I'm doing a franchise with the Twins (non-fantasy), and I currently have both Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton in AA right now just to make sure they get good development before promoting them.

The question is how do you know WHEN you should promote them? Or ANY prospect for that matter?

They both started out slow, but halfway through the season they've picked it up and now are both hitting for .280 to .310 or so, and Sano is actually one of the AA home run leaders now.

Any tips on when I should promote these guys? They're also training well and gaining a respectable amount of progression.

[extremeskins04]

Re: When to promote prospects?

Any help on this my friends?

[wolfpack23]

Re: When to promote prospects?

It all depends on what you want to do. If you are fine having them progress a level every season then do so. However, if they are tearing up AA and you feel like they may be able to contribute to the big club the following year then move them up to AAA and see how they fare. I think that half of a season is a large enough sample size for you to say that they are ready for a bigger challenge.

[tc020791]

When to promote prospects?

If you follow the MLB you'll notice that big time players only get pulled up for 2 reasons for the most part.

The first reason would happen before the first 1/3 of the season is over. If a team is really bad and going nowhere they sometimes will bring up a player who is excelling at a very high level in the minors and don't really need anymore development down there. A team usually does this as an attempt to one sell more tickets, and two allow the player to get a feel for the Show before becoming an everyday contributor on hopefully a winning team next season.

The other and more common reason is that a lot of players get called up right at the end of the year when rosters go to 40-man or maybe even a little sooner depending on the situation. A majority of these players are being pulled up because even tough they need more development they might be better than the option they have in the majors at the time, and with the playoffs right around the corner they could use the guys services.

[Benz87]

Re: When to promote prospects?

I simply go by the players overall rating. In my personal example, I have an A potential 68 OVR 2nd baseman that I drafted in the first year of my Brewers franchise. His first year his OVR dictated he was good enough for AAA but not the majors, his second year OVR, around 71 I believe dictated the same. I could have pushed it and brought him up, but he most likely would not have had many opportunities with the Weeks/Gennett platoon I was content with for the year. Going into the 2016 season he is a 78 OVR and is on my 25 man roster in position for a run at the starting job.

If I have a prospect that is not ready to make a significant contribution to my major league club, then there is no need to worry about bringing him up. Why waste the opportunity of giving him an exciting run at ROY just to have the prospect buried on your bench?

[nick_sr]

Re: When to promote prospects?

In my 4th year and I only draft guys that are ready the upcoming year.

[B Easy]

Re: When to promote prospects?

Often times I'll promote a guy based on a few things: if my team is out of contention and I could ease them along, if my team IS in contention and I could use an upgrade somewhere, or if I just plain think it's time for the prospect to be up at the Show.

[Jr.]

Re: When to promote prospects?

Young guys 24 years old and less, I'll only promote them if I believe they can start and contribute.. or if I have an injury and have no other choice. Once a guy gets to 25 and I'm not sure about him, I'll call him up and give him a few weeks to see if he can cut it. If not, I'll send him back down and use him as a trade piece if I can.

[allstardad]

Re: When to promote prospects?

Do you guys play through Spring Training to get an idea of how prospects perform against ML competition? I do this and then write down guys that can contribute and guys that I feel like I would be wasting a roster spot for, I put on trade block to see what I could possibly get in return.

[Friar Fanatic]

Re: When to promote prospects?

A really key thing to remember when calling up prospects is Super 2. That's always my number one concern.