Whats a Minor League Team?
A minor league baseball team is affiliated with a major league team, and today any minor league team has two major goals: • The development and preparation of young players for the big leagues • The forging of a successful local business. (More later about how these two fit together.) Most major league teams have minor leagues structured like this: • Rookie team – This level is usually young players just out of high school or college, with an average age of 19. • Class A – This level of play is just above the rookie team. Some major league teams, such as the Devil Rays, have both A and “advanced A” clubs playing in two different leagues. • Class AA (Double-A) – Players are more experienced at this level (average age is 23) and more likely to jump from here to the majors. AA teams may include former major leaguers who are there temporarily to recover from an injury or work out a performance problem before returning to the big club. • Class AAA (Triple-A) – This is the step just below th
