Are midseason promotions on any level good? what are some philosophies on the promotion? is it best to let your prized prospects play full seasons at one level and move them up annually or do you put them on the level where your best coaches are? or does the promotion make them get better faster?

You will get lots of different answers on this.

For me it depends on the prospect. If he is dominating a level and has ML potential I move him up.

If he is dominating a level and is a sure fire no doubt about it ML prospect I may move him up 2 levels in a season.

The only place I usually leave a sure fire ML prospect for a full season is AAA.

I have a certain number of AB's. Starts, IP for RP that I want at each level before moving a guy up. It is fewer at the Rookie, LA, HA levels than at AA and AAA.

care to share your #'s for AB's, IP, starts? So if your #1 draft pick is going to be a sure thing on the ML level would you move them up when they reach your criteria even though their #'s are mediocre on that level?

Kind of depends on A) the coach B) how they do C) How bad I need them at a higher level

In Rookie league I do not leave them there long maybe 150 AB's 6-8 Starts RP 20-30 IP. If I have better coaching at Rookie than Low A I may leave them there a full season.

Low A is pretty much the same. A sure fire guy may finish up the season at Hi A. Sometimes it depends on how good the team is at the next level as well as the coaches. I would rather have a guy in the playoffs at Low A than move him to High A if the coaching is good at both levels.

I stretch it out a bit at High A I want more like 250-300 AB's 10-20 Starts 40-60 IP out of the pen but this can be over 2 seasons.

AA 300-400 AB's 10-20 starts 50-70 IP but again it may be over 2 seasons.

AAA If a guy moved up very fast I may have him finish a year at AAA and then leave him there the entire next season.

If a guys numbers are bad I may leave him at a level a whole year but it depends on what you look at. I look at things like K/BB ratio and WHIP/OAV more than wins, losses or ERA. I also may move up a short RP even if his numbers are bad after looking at the game log. If his numbers are high because of 2 really bad games I move him up.

I also may move a guy up to get him on a winning team, get him with a better coach ect. I had 1 guy at High A who went to AA and pitched much better in 7 starts than he had at 15 HA startsover 2 seasons. I promoted him to AAA after only 7 AA starts.

It also depends on how bad you need him in the Major Leagues. I have 1 team that has a ton of good to great bullpen prospects and 2 good starting pitching prospects and I am timing it to get them all to the Majors in the next 1-3 years based not only on preformance and numbers but age a well.

I put where I expected them to be and how many starts IP I want at each level in the notes section on each player.

BTW most coaches agree after 4 seasons a guy won't progress much in the minors.

I would be suprised if you do not get a few more (different) opinions on this. Pick the one you like and ask that coach if he will look over what you have and give you specific advice from time to time.

thanks for the advice, helps a lot.

I try not to promote anyone til the end of the season. Maybe they'd get an extra ratings boost anyhow but I usually get 5 development cycles, spring training, and the promotion bump if I do it this way.