The Role of a Player Development System in Major League Baseball

This paper looks at the role of a player development system and the possible paths to success in Major League Baseball (MLB). The study looked at rookie players in the MLB to see if the path of their journey to the major leagues has an influence on their success as a rookie. Two paths were studied, those who played collegiately and those who went through the minor leagues straight from high school. This study used quantitative data to analyze the differences in player’s performance as rookies through statistics such as batting average and on-base percentage for hitters and winning percentage and earned run average for pitchers among other categories. This was used to show the differences in performance of rookies and allow us to see if there is a connection between greater success and previous baseball experience. This study highlighted those issues and topics within the industry including; how minor league sports work, finances, the professional drafts, contributions to player performance, and cognitive development of athletes. Results showed that there was not a significant difference in production between high school and collegiate players during their rookie year. These results suggest that perhaps any sort of organizational philosophy one way or the other may be faulty, and an organization should simply look at the player and not worry so much about their level of experience.