This is a question I've never really had before, but it just occurred to me as I was thinking about the fact that in HD, if you have too many walk-ons, your scholarship players won't progress ratings-wise as quickly as they would have otherwise (the reasoning is that if they're practicing against inferior competition, it's harder for them to improve). In that vein, I was just loading up my Spring Training squad with as many minor leaguers as I could when I came up with this question: will your young guys get bigger ratings bumps in Spring Training if there are fewer guys on the squad? The rationale is similar to that in HD: if there are fewer players, coaches have more time to spend teaching each guy how to develop, plus there are fewer scrubs around making it harder for the real prospects to get better.

Does anyone know the answer to this? Will I get better progression from my youngsters if I have 35 guys on my ST squad versus 60? Thanks in advance for any help!

I don't know of any evidence out there that suggests this is the case, so I can only assume that the number of players on your ST squad doesn't affect development.

It's supposed to be based on playing time but players who aren't even invited will progress.   I ran the numbers a few seasons ago.   Invitees with extensive playing time got the biggest bumps.   Invitees with limited playing time got a smaller bump.   And non-invitees still got a bump.    The difference wasn't mind-blowing but there was a difference.   I think it's worth the injury-risk but I'm sure some don't.

Fair enough. Thanks guys.

I kind of noticed what Mike was saying. In invited like 65 to my last spring training. About ten guys never saw any action at all and still got ratings jumps. To me it looked about the same but it may have been a little less than the others.

My rule is to invite anyone who has any kind of chance to make it to the majors. So if that's 65 or 28 it doesn't matter. That's what I stick to.