you think you know baseball, right? well lemme teach you a lil' something about the game.
here’s some advice. there are six levels of minor leagues. it’s not just a, double a, and triple a ball. it’s rough stuff out there. here are some steps, don’t get confused.
1.) a guy gets drafted/signed. you gotta start somewhere. a guy will either get signed as a free agent (you’ll see this abbreviated as FA) or drafted out of high school or college. sometimes you’ll even see guys who have been drafted out of college as juniors. (which means they didn’t get to graduate.)
2.) they head off to the rookie leagues. this is typically always located where the major league affiliate team spring trains. (example: the angels train in tempe, arizona, so their rookie league is in tempe, and is a part of the AZL (arizona league).) this is pretty much where a newly signed kid is gonna get their first dose of pro-ball. yes, minor leagues are considered professional, because they are getting paid.
3.) they may be promoted or head straight to pioneer league. this is still considered rookie ball, but has a special classification of pioneer league (often called short-season). it’s a short season league, and normally starts just after the minor league all-star games. (around late june.) this is where the guys really start to get into the groove of pro-ball, but keep in mind, they’re being paid practically nothing.
4.) they can head straight on up to single a. there are two levels of single a: class a (or some refer to it as “low single a”) and class a advanced (or sometimes called “high single a”). a guy will obviously go to the lower level first.
5.) they can then move to class a advanced. this is where talent is truly fine-tuned and you start to see your superstars emerge. keep in mind a guy can skip levels, be promoted for only a few games, and be demoted because of injuries or attitude problems. yes, a guy can be demoted because he needs to work on his attitude. baseball is pretty damn good at making sure that most guys are well-rounded.
6.) double a time! after a guy shows his skill in advanced single a, he can move on to double a. the pay starts getting better (but it still pretty much sucks) and the bus rides are a little cozier. it’s still the minors though, which means you can be released, promoted, or demoted at any time.
7.) no way, triple a already?! after proving that you’ve got what it takes, you can head on up to triple a. most guys don’t make it this far. a lot of good guys retire, get released, or become too badly injured before this point. so don’t be thinking that all guys will eventually make it to the big leagues, because it’s definitely not true. most of the guys, even on a triple a team, won’t ever get a dose of the big show.
you’ve gotta be a badass to make it to the majors, is basically what i’m trying to say here. surviving the minor leagues is fuckin’ hard.
