How Do Minor League Affiliates Affect The Major League Teams Success?

Throughout the course of the Major League Season, each team relies heavily on their Minor League Affiliates. due to injuries and good results from those in the Minors. Some of these players never head back to the Minors, while others only stay for a short amount of time. Regardless of the length of their stay, the team's success could hinge on these Minor League Players' performances. Let's see if that turns out to be true.

This graph shows the relationship between each of the MLB teams and their total wins from the 2024 season. Total wins means their regular season wins from all their different minor league teams, though, in this case, it does not include MLB. Each minor league level is color-coded while the MLB Teams are in increasing order of wins on the x-axis. So the Chicago White Sox had the least MLB wins while the Los Angeles had the most. As the winning in the MLB increases, there is no real concrete relationship between going across the x-axis. For the teams whose wins fall low, either their MLB team faced injuries like the Astros and Braves or their MLB team just sucked like the Angels. It is surprising to see the Orioles so low with their deep farm system and young core. Whether these minor league teams win or lose doesn't really matter to the big league team but it is cool to note that the Guardians had the most wins while the Angels had the least.

This graph shows the relationship between each team's AAA (Triple-A) and MLB offenses. The blue line in the middle represents the line of best fit for the relationship. All the teams on the graph show higher runs per game for the Triple-A team. This is probably due to the pitchers being less developed in Triple-A and the crazier ballpark factors for the MLB stadiums. Most of the teams are clumped in a similar area, meaning that their teams have similar Runs Per Game across the two levels. All of the teams that made it to the playoffs fall above the line of best fit, besides the Cleveland Guardians and the Detroit Tigers. Running a simple regression there is ultimately not a significant relationship between Triple-A and MLB Runs Per Game.

This graph shows the relationship between each team's AAA and MLB ERA (Earned Run Average). The blue line in the middle represents the line of best fit for the relationship. All of the MLB teams have lower ERAs than their Triple-A teams, aside from the Miami Marlins. Additionally, the teams are mostly featured at the bottom left of this graph, indicating the lower ERAs. Teams that made the postseason or had good pitching staff are shown under the blue line. The Colorado Rockies are one of the main outliers, but that's not surprising because their ballpark is a hitter's dream. Meanwhile, the Miami Marlins' great pitching staff was ravaged by injuries and trades, leading to their poor performance. Running a simple regression there is shown to be a significant relationship between Triple-A and MLB ERA.

It is interesting to see that there is a relationship for pitchers but not hitters though this could change from year to year. It would be interesting to look at this relationship across the different levels of the minor leagues. Even though the minor leagues continue to shrink, it is cool to know that the minor leagues are still important and will continue to shape the game for years to come.