{"id":5839,"date":"2013-05-15T10:30:13","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T14:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=5839"},"modified":"2013-10-10T09:29:08","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T13:29:08","slug":"minor-league-pitching-age-appropriateness-for-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=5839","title":{"rendered":"Minor League Pitching Age Appropriateness for 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yunesky Maya is “Really Old” for AAA; but does it matter? Photo unknown<\/p><\/div>\n

A recurring statement that you often hear when talking about prospects in the minors is “Age Appropriateness” for the level in which the player is playing. \u00a0And for good reason; a seasoned minor league player who is playing against younger, weaker competition should have dominant numbers, and when analyzing that player’s performance this should be taken into account. \u00a0On the flip side, if a guy advances quickly up the minors and is a “youngster” at a high level and performs poorly, he shouldn’t immediately be written off, since he’s likely overmatched and needs time to “grow” into the level.<\/p>\n

This topic comes up here often when talking about pitchers and their performances, and I frequently talk about a guy “being old” or “being young” for his level as a way to either discount good performances or explain away poor ones. \u00a0But what is “Too old for a level?”<\/p>\n

I have always used a rule-of-thumb measurement advocated by\u00a0John Sickels<\/strong> at\u00a0minorleagueball.com<\/a> for looking at player ages (I cannot find the original Sickels posting but have seen it attributed to him in several forums).\u00a0 That rule-of-thumb is as follows:<\/p>\n