I like taking over rebuilding teams, but it's frustrating to see prior owners assign their top picks to AA, or see them get 10 ABs per level and be in AAA at end of Year1. To me, it handcuffs you that you can't do the right end-of-season promotions to capture development. And it can stagnate the low-patience guys when they then need to spend multiple seasons at the same level after being over-promoted early on.

What's the argument in favor of the accelerated promotion timeline? Do they feel it's better for a top prospect to struggle or be mediocre at AA/AAA than mash at HiA/LoA? I'd rather them spend a full season at each of the lower levels until you want/need them in the bigs.

I know the AI tends to over-promote guys if you leave the AI to manage the DL, but I also see several owners purposely promoting their prospects aggressively.

Level doesn't matter for their development other than the coaches skill rating. The sim doesn't penalize prospects for being overmatched. I stick all my best prospects in whichever minors squad has the best coach for his position - ideally my best coaches are in AA. Only caveat is that I don't stick prospects on AAA unless they are on the 40 man since you can't do end of year promotions to ML without adding to the 40 man.

So yes, I'll stick an 18 year old at AA so he gets the best coach. Also, sticking all your best prospects on on squad - like AA - ups their odds of making the playoffs which gets them in more games at the end of the season and therefore more development.