| By Chris Crawford |  | By 09-18-2010 |
Even the most astute students of minor league stats probably wouldn't know who won the various championships from Triple-A to the short-season leagues over the past 10 years. The win-loss records just aren't treated the same as those of the big league clubs, and with good reason. Too many variables -- along with the lack of prestige -- happen during the season for the trophies to matter all that much.
But it does mean something.
If it meant nothing, then the Tacoma Rainiers would have had a lot more defections than just Dan Cortes and Justin Smoak after their Pacific Coast League title over the Memphis Redbirds on Friday night. In fact, you would have seen a lot more call-ups long before they even played Sacramento to open the PCL playoffs. There would be no reason to keep these players down if there wasn't some sort of value to the experience of minor league playoff baseball.
"Oh, absolutely there's something to it." An American-League scout told me. "We have a a tendency to overvalue the intangible things like team chemistry, but learning how to win is something we do value. It's not going to be the key to their development -- and we'll call up any player if he fills a specific need -- but there's definitely value in learning to win, certainly." Or as a former big-league infielder and current special assistant to an NL club told us, "if young players don't learn what it's like to win somewhere along the way, it's tough to expect them to expect to win. We want our guys to expect winning and know how to handle tense situations in the majors when the time comes."
No, it's not like a Junior Varsity, where you can expect results the next year when the JV team does well. But take Josh Lueke's appearance last night. Closing out last night's Game 3 win was one of the most pressure-filled appearances he's had as a professional, if not the single biggest game of his life.
He can and should apply that to his MLB appearances in September or next spring, and hopefully the many save situations in his career. Again, it doesn't automatically make these players winners, but it's a step in the right direction.
The Rainiers' PCL win will probably be forgotten in a few years, if not a few minutes. But it's the players who appeared in that series and use it to help become better players that should remember it longest. It's not everything, but don't let anyone tell you that it doesn't matter.
It does.
it-does-mean-something
Comments
The following 9 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: STEVEV on 09-18-2010 21:27:37 Thanks Chris. |
| 2. By: SethGrandpa on 09-19-2010 01:21:59 Totally agree. Actually I was surprised by the Smoak and Cortes call-ups exactly for that reason. I know it's one silly game, but it means more than any Mariners game right now - especially from a mental standpoint. |
| 3. By: everblue77 on 09-19-2010 08:27:58 Agreed....winning breeds winning. The entire farm system has had a nice run this year. Let's hope it translates well for the Mariners in the next couple years. |
| 4. By: maqman on 09-19-2010 11:21:24 I want to see how the call-ups do with the big club but think the Rainiers deserved to keep them for the final championship game. |
| 5. By: subterranean on 09-19-2010 11:27:35 If winning breeds winning, then how did the '09 mariners breed the '10 mariners? |
| 6. By: Jason A. Churchill on 09-19-2010 12:23:12 subterranean, One winning season doesn't = guaranteed winning subsequent seasons, clearly. But every player development staffer in every organization I have ever spoken to about the subject agrees that the more a player experiences both adversity and a winning environment the better prepared they will be for the big leagues. When the '09 M's overachieved, only homers and the baseball blind thought that meant they'd do it again in 2010. |
| 7. By: Missthosepilots on 09-19-2010 16:18:13 Thanks Chris. Well said Jason. Like with the Huskies. Rarely can several lost years be reversed with a few good months. Better to fix it right and that does take some time. But nicer to see the minor leagues give reason to smile than wondering where the holes might be filled from. Gentlemen, I look forward to what you will have to say in the months ahead for '11. You made a long season more enjoyable and helped keep it all in perspective. |
| 8. By: Marlin Man on 09-20-2010 12:00:57 I agree with post #7- you guys did a hell of a fine job making the season more enjoyable. Thanks for sticking with it Jason!!!! |
| 9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 09-20-2010 13:22:02 We try... Crawford deserves a hell of a lot of credit. The GBU's are awesome because it gives us all the chance to discuss how the team is doing, rosterbate, etc. And to stick to a schedule like he did all year is not easy. Thanks everyone! |
Haven't created a Prospect Insider account yet? Sign up!
|
|
 |
|
|
| Copyright 2010 Prospect Insider | Created by AQ Central Prospect Insider is optimized for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome |