Why Catchers Take Longest to Develop
Why catching prospects usually need more time in the minors than other positions, what the job demands, and what the historical records show about how catchers' careers and workloads differ from everyone else's.
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The History of the Amateur Draft and Signing Bonuses
How baseball moved from open bidding for amateurs to the 1965 draft, the draft-and-follow loophole and the bonus pools of 2012, with the rules at each stage and what they were meant to do.
How Minor Leaguers Get Paid
How minor league players are paid: bonuses, salary scales by level, the history of low wages, the 2022 union vote, housing and the limits of any published number. Figures are hedged because they change.
How Prospect Rankings Are Made
What goes into a top-100 prospect list: tools, performance, age against level, health, signing pedigree and proximity to the majors, why the lists disagree, and how to read one without over-trusting the number.
How Scouts Grade Prospects: The 20-80 Scale
How scouts grade prospects on the 20-80 scale: what 50, 60 and 70 mean, how tools like hit and power are graded, how present and future grades differ and why the scale cannot predict careers.
How Teams Develop Hitters in the Minors
How clubs turn drafted and signed hitters into major leaguers: the minor-league levels, the skills coaches work on, the data they use, how to read a prospect's stat line, and why most plans take years.
How Teams Develop Pitchers in the Minors
How clubs turn drafted arms into major-league pitchers: the minor-league ladder, workload limits, building a third pitch, the numbers scouts watch and why so many promising pitchers stall.
How Teams Use the Complex Leagues
What the Arizona and Florida Complex Leagues and the Dominican Summer League are, who plays in them, why clubs treat the results as secondary, and how fans and fantasy players can read the numbers that come out of rookie ball.
How the Minor Leagues Are Organized: Triple-A to the Complex Leagues
The levels of the affiliated minor leagues, from Triple-A down to the complex leagues and the Dominican Summer League, who controls the players, how affiliation works, and how to read a prospect's stat line.
How the MLB Draft Works: Rounds, Slots and Bonus Pools
How the amateur draft is built: who is eligible, how the order is set, what a slot value is, how a club's bonus pool limits spending, and how teams trade savings on one pick for extra money on another.
Independent Baseball Leagues: The Atlantic League and Beyond
How professional independent leagues differ from affiliated minor leagues, their history, the Atlantic League's role as a testing ground for rule changes, and how players move from independent ball to the majors.
International Amateur Signings: Bonus Pools and the Latin American Market
How major-league clubs sign amateur players from outside the draft, how bonus pools limit spending, and what the historical record shows about where major leaguers are born.
Minor League Affiliation Explained: Player Development Contracts
How a minor league team becomes the affiliate of a major league club: parent clubs, player development contracts and licenses, who pays whom, how players move between levels and how the 2021 overhaul changed the map.
The 2021 Minor League Restructuring
How Major League Baseball cut its affiliated minor-league system from 160 clubs to 120 in 2021, what changed in the levels, the draft and the schedule, and what happened to the teams that lost their affiliations.
The Arizona Fall League and the Futures Game
The Arizona Fall League and the All-Star Futures Game are baseball's two main prospect showcases. Learn who plays in each, how to read the statistics they produce and what scouts actually take from them.
The Call-Up Process: How Players Reach the Majors
How a minor leaguer gets to the majors: the 26-man and 40-man rosters, options, recalls, designations for assignment, the Rule 5 draft and service time, explained step by step as of the 2025 season.
The MLB Draft Lottery Explained
How the MLB draft lottery works, why it replaced the old reverse-order system and what the first lottery, held after the 2022 season, showed. Includes the odds arithmetic and the limits of what is publicly established.
The First Amateur Draft of 1965: Rick Monday and What Followed
In June 1965 baseball held its first amateur draft. Kansas City took outfielder Rick Monday first, while Johnny Bench went in the second round. This article explains why the draft was created and what the class showed.
The Five Tools Explained: Hit, Power, Run, Arm and Field
What scouts mean by hit, power, run, arm and field, how each tool is judged on the 20-80 scale, why true five-tool players are rare, and how tools differ from results, with career examples from the historical record.
The 2002 Draft and What Moneyball Got Right and Wrong
An account of the Oakland Athletics' 2002 draft, the college-first approach described in Moneyball, what the picks became in the historical record, and which parts of the philosophy held up.
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