Just curious - why do the Sox not field a short-season A ball club?  It looks like about half the teams have a SS A ball affiliate, and most that don't have an extra rookie ball team (Sox only have 3).  

I did some breakdown of this a while back because I also found this interesting. If you look at the lowest levels of the minors (short season A, rookie league, complex, DSL) the Sox are one of 12 organizations with only 3 of those teams with two more teams sharing one, so they basically have 3.5 teams. 11 organizations have 4 teams between these 4 levels, though some have two at one and none at another. The Yankees, Rays, Astros, Mets and Diamondbacks have five teams between these four levels, so two at one level with all of those being either an extra complex team or DSL team. 

However when you just look at short season A ball and rookie leagues (which seems mostly equivalent), only 9 organizations have a team at both the short season level and rookie league level, though the Royals (not counted in the nine) do have two rookie league level teams and no short season team while the Rockies (counted in the nine) have one team at the short season and rookie league levels but do not have a complex team. 

TL;DR: Only about 1/3 organizations have both a short season team and a rookie league team, though more than half the league does have at least 4 teams between the lowest four levels while the Sox only have 3. So I would like to see us add one more team between the lowest four levels, though it does not necessarily need to be a short season A ball team. 

44 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

Just curious - why do the Sox not field a short-season A ball club?  It looks like about half the teams have a SS A ball affiliate, and most that don't have an extra rookie ball team (Sox only have 3).  

$$

37 minutes ago, GenericUserName said:

I did some breakdown of this a while back because I also found this interesting. If you look at the lowest levels of the minors (short season A, rookie league, complex, DSL) the Sox are one of 12 organizations with only 3 of those teams with two more teams sharing one, so they basically have 3.5 teams. 11 organizations have 4 teams between these 4 levels, though some have two at one and none at another. The Yankees, Rays, Astros, Mets and Diamondbacks have five teams between these four levels, so two at one level with all of those being either an extra complex team or DSL team. 

However when you just look at short season A ball and rookie leagues (which seems mostly equivalent), only 9 organizations have a team at both the short season level and rookie league level, though the Royals (not counted in the nine) do have two rookie league level teams and no short season team while the Rockies (counted in the nine) have one team at the short season and rookie league levels but do not have a complex team. 

TL;DR: Only about 1/3 organizations have both a short season team and a rookie league team, though more than half the league does have at least 4 teams between the lowest four levels while the Sox only have 3. So I would like to see us add one more team between the lowest four levels, though it does not necessarily need to be a short season A ball team. 

Thanks for sharing!  

1 hour ago, GenericUserName said:

I did some breakdown of this a while back because I also found this interesting. If you look at the lowest levels of the minors (short season A, rookie league, complex, DSL) the Sox are one of 12 organizations with only 3 of those teams with two more teams sharing one, so they basically have 3.5 teams. 11 organizations have 4 teams between these 4 levels, though some have two at one and none at another. The Yankees, Rays, Astros, Mets and Diamondbacks have five teams between these four levels, so two at one level with all of those being either an extra complex team or DSL team. 

However when you just look at short season A ball and rookie leagues (which seems mostly equivalent), only 9 organizations have a team at both the short season level and rookie league level, though the Royals (not counted in the nine) do have two rookie league level teams and no short season team while the Rockies (counted in the nine) have one team at the short season and rookie league levels but do not have a complex team. 

TL;DR: Only about 1/3 organizations have both a short season team and a rookie league team, though more than half the league does have at least 4 teams between the lowest four levels while the Sox only have 3. So I would like to see us add one more team between the lowest four levels, though it does not necessarily need to be a short season A ball team. 

Good write-up, covers most of the key ground.

One other note - the Sox DID have a team in the Appalachian League, which is a rookie league but about on par with SS A leagues for talent. They moved that team to become the AZL, where they could have the youngest players at their own facility.