The Next Generation of Player Development

May 14, 2010 BY Jonas Fester 8 Comments

Jonas is currently a coach at Johns Hopkins University where he was an All-American shortstop. After graduation, he played professional for the Forth Worth Cats of the American Association.

Through my two seasons as a player, and in discussions with many of my friends that played in affiliated organizations, five truths have always held themselves to be self evident.

1. Playing professional baseball is a heck of a lot of fun

2. Most guys never make it.

3. It’s a grueling lifestyle where the majority of players are treated like a tiny cog in a machine that chews you up.

4. During the off-season, you’re free…almost too free.

5. Once you’re done playing…well…

In the first part of this short, 2 part series, I would like to focus on truth number 4. Once the minor league season ends, if you’re not one of the few to be shipped off to the Arizona Fall League or play in winter ball, the off-season consists of heading back to your hometown, or former university, with the goal of trying to establish a new 5 month life.

Most players during the off-season will take the first month or so off, in an attempt to recharge the body and forget about baseball for a bit. Once Novemeber and December roll around however, it’s back to the weight room and the cage to prepare yourself for spring training. Other than working retail or construction, the only real option, in terms of income, is to give private lessons to local players. When you only have 5 months, the goal is to make enough money during the off-season so that you won’t be living per diem to per diem in a few months. Obviously, this is easier said than done. Not too glamorous of a life, yet such it is for a minor leaguer. But does it need to be this way?

According to Andrew Zimbalist in his recent paper, Reflections on Salary Shares and Salary Caps, via Pete Toms over at Biz of Baseball:

…the annual player development costs in MLB at an average of $20 million per club. Of that $20 million, an average of $11.5 million per year is devoted to the salaries of minor league players. According to Mr. Zimbalist, MLB is spending upwards of 6% of their annual revenues on player development. If there is one area in which the MLB business model is inferior to the other “big 4” leagues, it is certainly player development costs.

With all of the analysis flooding the internet and front offices about the peak age of players, and the value of developing young players who are under team control for half a decade, one would think that this 6% number is a joke. Since it’s all about market efficiency for teams, it seems obvious that at least a quarter of a team’s revenue should be put towards player development.

Now, does the lifestyle and the salaries of minor league players need to be increased drastically? That would be nice, but I don’t think that is where the money needs to be injected.

I believe a small market team should take the lead in the next generation of player development. By this,young players under contract should be required to spend their off-season at the teams spring training complex.

While at the complex, the organization that has invested money into you, hoping for a huge payout in the future, will monitor all of your workouts, your diet, and your development as a player and a person.

During the off-season, the organization will run camps and clinics with local little league programs, and through that, the players will receive checks for their service. The players are also allowed to give paid lessons to local area ball players. Additionally, housing will be provided at the spring training complex so that the players can save money, and be monitored on a daily basis to prevent injuries and bad decisions. Because after all, nothing good happens after midnight.

Not only will the players have a daily schedule of baseball training and local player outreach, but they will be involved in community serivice and volunteer programs throughout the area. Not only will this be beneficial for the face of the organization, but in terms of personal development, these can be life changing opportunities.

It boggles my mind that a team would give a player thousands of dollars in a signing bonus, yet let him be on his own for 4 – 5 months during the off-season, only to check up every once in a while on the phone, and trust that said player is progressing nicely.

From all of my experience, mechanical changes and physical gains are made during the off-season, not during the regular season. This is where college baseball has it all right. If you ask any player, massive changes are made between every season, changes that can take a player to a whole new level of production.

The time for coaching and making adjustments is during the off-season, and this is the exact time an organization needs its best players surrounded on a daily basis by its best coaches. Minor league prospects are investments and they need to be treated as such; nurtured, protected, controlled, and developed exactly how his organization sees fit.

You can contact Jonas with any questions or feedback you may have by e-mailing him or by commenting below

8 Comments »

obsessivegiantscompulsive said:

I totally agree with this, I’ve been saying something similar in comments for a long while, but this is the best I’ve seen about this topic ever.

I wonder how similar this idea is to the Royal’s academy that they had in the 70′s or 80′s (don’t remember when but I think George Brett was a product from that). I’ve been wanting to read up on that but haven’t found a good source yet.

To be frank, I don’t know how much I trust Zimbalist’s analysis (though I will read the article you linked to later), he wrote in a national paper (Wall Street Journal?) that the Yankees did not buy the World Series last season. They totally did, how else can you term it when they pick up CC, Teixiera and Beckett for more money than some teams were spending on their whole player payroll on an annual basis?

# 17 May 2010 at 7:00 PM

Jonas (author) said:

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate it. It’s definitely a topic that needs to be discussed more out in the open. As more and more teams start to emphasize the importance of controlling and growing their own players, issues like this will become important I think. I’m not too familiar iwth the Royal’s academy, I’ll look it up. They could probably use one now though.

Maybe one of the things Zimbalist was talking about was comparing the amount of home grown players between the yankees and phillies, in which the yanks had more. just a thought.

# 17 May 2010 at 10:03 PM

Frank Thomas is God said:

Dayton Moore would find a way to screw up that academy. Probably go all Dusty Baker on some young pitchers and ruin their arms.

And the number of home grown players on the Yankees is skewed. Andy Pettitte was technically home grown, however, he was a free agent signing that had left the organization. Also, guys like Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera were home grown, but had they come up with another organization, it would be unlikely another team could pony up the cash to get them to stick around.

All that being said, the Yankees did not buy a world series, that is impossible, unless you were a mobster who was a fan of the Reds in 1919.

# 18 May 2010 at 5:10 AM

Paul Winterling said:

Jonas,

Great idea. I would have done that in a heart beat. In fact, I tried to do it on my own. Select prospects and injury rehab players are invited down Jan 1. The organization pays for their hotel room, takes them through workouts, and gives them meal money. I was never one of those players; furthermore, I found it difficult to properly prepare for the upcoming season in the cold Baltimore winters. I would save up what little money I had and head down to spring training a couple weeks early. Unlike the “select players,” I had to pay for my own hotel and my own food. Six other friends who had the same goal of working out in the warm Florida weather would all chip in and crash in the same hotel room. If the organization had covered my expenses, I would have been in FL by Jan 1 every year. However, I had to use my own dime and could only afford 2 weeks…

# 18 May 2010 at 4:11 PM

chapmania2010 said:

Nice article! everything you’re saying makes sense, but there may be some reasons for clubs to not want to invest so much in their young guys. First, there are too many players in the minors to all be developed into major league players. Not everyone can make it anyway. Nevertheless, say each club picked a number of players for its offseason program. These are young players, none of whom have guaranteed success. ML clubs will think about losses, and what would it be like to invest more in a player than he earns? Or, how would offseason programs affect trading between clubs? Surely, all clubs would not have the same level of offseason program quality, and this might complicate the trading/bargaining process between teams, players, and agents. It wouldn’t make sense to train a guy for a particular club, either, unless there was a guarantee that he would end up there. Anyway, nice article..just playing some devil’s advocate.

# 22 May 2010 at 10:06 PM

Jonas (author) said:

good points everyone. The opportunity cost is something you definitely need to look at, because you’re right, most of the players will not make it to the big leagues, and maybe only a handful will become everyday players. However, if you have your hand in just about everything a player does during a full year, I would have to think that his chances of making some type of impact would increase. Especially if you have a specific plan for each player, if they are good enough, and work hard enough, you would feasibly be able to get everything out of that player that is possible. And if that’s not enough to make it, so be it. But to add 30+ players a year and just let them do their own thing for 4 months out of the year, I can’t see how that increases their chances. Professional coaching and training can go along way, might as well see how far it can take your potential prospects.

# 24 May 2010 at 8:10 PM

Ryan Kennedy said:

It would need to be optional though, similiar to football OTA’s. Many young players already have family’s of there own. I think it would be an awesome idea for those players who seem to lie somewhere in between family man and stud prospect. I also absolutely agree player development budgets are a joke. I think thought that the money should be allocated to the draft and the international market. If I ran a team I’d consistantly go above slot for players who slipped due to signability. It’s nuts small market non contenders will spend millions on 30 something set-up men but won’t go above slot for the guy that falls in there laps every june.

# 31 May 2010 at 4:40 AM

Jonas (author) said:

Great point Ryan. I think that teams feel like they need to make a splash in the free agent market to appease their fans. Therefore, they waste 10 million dollars on the Kerry Woods of the world, instead of using that money to get some top quality draftees with signability issues. Make the masses happy in the short term vs. developing a good minor league system that will take years and probably some losses?

Why not keep the families at the minor league complex too? Kind of like an army base?

# 2 June 2010 at 6:27 PM