19 Leagues

There are 19 summer professional baseball minor leagues (only including those affiliated with major league organizations, and including the Mexican League, where some of the players are on loan from affiliated teams). The Rays have 9 minor league affiliates playing in 9 of the 19 leagues.

Today I want to take a look at the type of leagues the Rays affiliates play in, are they high offense or low offense, strong pitching or weak pitching. Below are the leagues ranked by offense and pitching, which is really two ways of looking at the same thing. I chose to rank the offense by OPS rather than runs per game and pitching by ERA to try and eliminate some of the effects of poor fielding at the lower levels (more on that later).

Leagues by OPS (leagues with Rays affiliates in bold):

Rk League            Level Tms BatAge    BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
1  Mexican           AAA    16   30.1  .301  .373  .438  .811
2  Pacific Coast     AAA    16   26.6  .272  .341  .418  .758
3  California        Adv A  10   22.8  .270  .341  .417  .758
4  Pioneer           Rookie  8   20.8  .273  .345  .408  .754
5  Texas             AA      8   24.1  .266  .340  .391  .732
6  Venezuelan Summer ForRk   7   18.4  .265  .345  .381  .727
7  International     AAA    14   27.1  .262  .328  .395  .723
8  Northwest         S-S A   8   21.2  .264  .342  .380  .722
9  Eastern           AA     12   24.3  .258  .332  .385  .717
10 Arizona           Rookie 11   20.2  .263  .339  .379  .717
11 Carolina          Adv A   8   22.8  .256  .329  .383  .712
12 Appalachian       Rookie 10   20.6  .257  .328  .384  .712
13 Southern          AA     10   24.5  .255  .332  .380  .711
14 Midwest           A      14   21.6  .256  .329  .373  .702
15 South Atlantic    A      16   21.5  .254  .324  .368  .692
16 Florida State     Adv A  12   22.4  .252  .322  .363  .684
17 New York-Penn     S-S A  14   21.1  .245  .320  .351  .670
18 Dominican Summer  ForRk  33   18.3  .242  .340  .330  .669
19 Gulf Coast        Rookie 16   19.5  .238  .316  .335  .652

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 10/3/2009.

So the Rays teams play in leagues mostly at the bottom of the list by OPS. Next by pitching ERA (from highest to lowest to match the offense table above):

Rk League            Level Tms PitAge   ERA
1  Mexican           AAA    16   28.7  4.98
2  Pacific Coast     AAA    16   27.0  4.51
3  California        Adv A  10   23.0  4.47
4  Pioneer           Rookie  8   20.9  4.44
5  Arizona           Rookie 11   20.7  4.37
6  Northwest         S-S A   8   21.3  4.28
7  Texas             AA      8   24.0  4.22
8  Venezuelan Summer ForRk   7   18.5  4.09
9  Appalachian       Rookie 10   20.3  4.08
10 Carolina          Adv A   8   22.9  3.99
11 Midwest           A      14   21.7  3.96
12 International     AAA    14   26.9  3.92
13 Eastern           AA     12   24.2  3.90
14 Southern          AA     10   24.4  3.85
15 Dominican Summer  ForRk  33   18.8  3.73
16 South Atlantic    A      16   21.6  3.71
17 Florida State     Adv A  12   23.0  3.56
18 New York-Penn     S-S A  14   21.4  3.50
19 Gulf Coast        Rookie 16   20.4  3.37

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 10/3/2009.

Again, the Rays teams play in the lower offense/better pitching leagues.

So what, if anything, does this mean? We all know the Rays have many more pitching prospects than hitting prospects. Is that a product of the Rays minor league teams league environments? Probably not, but maybe a better question is whether the leagues that the Rays minor leaguers play in help/hurt the development of our hitters or pitchers. Do the pitchers excel by playing in 'pitcher's leagues', and conversely, do the batters get overwhelmed? Or is it better for our hitters to face challenging environments?

Would you want the Rays really change the leagues their affiliates play in? Geography is important for transactions and scouting economy. The VSL and DSL are where they are, and the GCL and Florida State League are set by the spring training facility. So that leaves 5 teams.

At AAA, the IL makes a lot more sense than the PCL. At AA, the Southern League makes the most sense, but Eastern League is a possibility. Bowling Green is moving to the Midwest League from the Sally next year, along with Lake County, mostly due to the travel distance differences between the leagues. Smart move in my opinion. The Appy and NY-Penn also seem to make the most sense.

So long story short, we are where we should be, and where we are is in a system that favors pitchers over hitters.

I mentioned above the fielding differences between different levels. You always hear that pitchers at lower levels suffer from poor defense behind them. And it makes sense, a poor defender will either be released or moved to an easier position as they move up through the system. But is it really true at each level? To find out let's look at each of the 19 leagues by fielding percentage (I realize fielding percentage is not the most advanced defensive metric, but it's all I have for all 19 leagues, and I think it's not that bad for looking at a league as a whole as opposed to an individual player):

Rk League            Level Tms   Fld%
1  Pacific Coast     AAA    16  .978
2  International     AAA    14  .977
3  Mexican           AAA    16  .977
4  Eastern           AA     12  .976
5  Southern          AA     10  .975
6  Florida State     Adv A  12  .972
7  Carolina          Adv A   8  .972
8  Texas             AA      8  .972
9  California        Adv A  10  .971
10 Midwest           A      14  .969
11 South Atlantic    A      16  .968
12 New York-Penn     S-S A  14  .967
13 Northwest         S-S A   8  .966
14 Gulf Coast        Rookie 16  .963
15 Appalachian       Rookie 10  .961
16 Pioneer           Rookie  8  .959
17 Arizona           Rookie 11  .956
18 Venezuelan Summer ForRk   7  .954
19 Dominican Summer  ForRk  33  .948

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/5/2009.

Kind of amazing, other than the Texas League (and even there you have to go to four decimal places) every league is in order by level from highest to lowest. Was 2009 just a fluke? Let's look at 2008:

Rk League            Level Tms  Fld%
1  Pacific Coast     AAA    16  .978
2  International     AAA    14  .977
3  Mexican           AAA    16  .977
4  Texas             AA      8  .975
5  Southern          AA     10  .975
6  Eastern           AA     12  .975
7  Florida State     Adv A  12  .974
8  Carolina          Adv A   8  .972
9  California        Adv A  10  .970
10 South Atlantic    A      16  .968
11 Midwest           A      14  .968
12 Northwest         S-S A   8  .965
13 Pioneer           Rookie  8  .964
14 New York-Penn     S-S A  14  .964
15 Gulf Coast        Rookie 16  .960
16 Appalachian       Rookie 10  .960
17 Venezuelan Summer ForRk   8  .955
18 Arizona           Rookie  9  .954
19 Dominican Summer  ForRk  37  .951

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/5/2009.

Doesn't appear to be a fluke, this time only the NY-P (barely) and the Arizona League are out of order.