Feeder System Expansion

[Chappy]

I wouldn't want a draft that's much longer.  Of course, growing the feeder leagues would give you more "leftovers" so teams that wanted more players could scoop them up post draft.

But remember, we're already seriously under what we need for an 8-round draft, so it would be several seasons of adding 2-4 high schools before we could think of adding rounds IMO.

I've been reading up on this topic more in the forums and come across a couple of interesting statistics:

1. You want to have 5 rounds' worth of players for each level of minor leagues you have (4 levels = 20 rounds).  Most online leagues seem to operate below this level without any problems.

2. Each feeder league team produces between 6 and 9 draftable players each season.  You want more high schools than colleges because many leftover high school players go to college.

Just food for thought.

[mstreeter06]

I wouldn't want a draft that's much longer.  Of course, growing the feeder leagues would give you more "leftovers" so teams that wanted more players could scoop them up post draft.

But remember, we're already seriously under what we need for an 8-round draft, so it would be several seasons of adding 2-4 high schools before we could think of adding rounds IMO.

I've been reading up on this topic more in the forums and come across a couple of interesting statistics:

1. You want to have 5 rounds' worth of players for each level of minor leagues you have (4 levels = 20 rounds).  Most online leagues seem to operate below this level without any problems.

2. Each feeder league team produces between 6 and 9 draftable players each season.  You want more high schools than colleges because many leftover high school players go to college.

Just food for thought.

Thanks for posting that. I remember reading that back when I was beginning my research for the feeder leagues.

I think we'll stay at 8 rounds unless we really want to go to say 10 rounds but my preference would be to stay at 8 so we don't drag out the offseason even more than it does. We could always move the draft date to the middle of the season like I wanted to do last offseason .

[Qdog915]

I would be for moving it. Another league I used to be in did that, so we could draft all off season and the first quarter or so of regular season.

[claphamsa]

im for anything that allows talent to enter the league

[mukerka]

im for anything that allows talent to enter the league

Lets say batters ... we need a lot of them

[yuda]

Yes to more feeder leagues.

Yes to (eventually) going from 8 to 10 rounds for the draft... Mostly because I like round numbers.

Yes to turning off ghost players?

[mstreeter06]

I'll be posting more details about the expansion of our HS feeder league today. Likely 4 schools added over the next 5 seasons or similar.

[mstreeter06]

We will be adding 16 High Schools over the next 4 seasons in groups of 4.

This will get us to 36 High Schools and keep us at 20 Colleges for the AFBL Feeder Leagues by the 2028 draft.

[mstreeter06]

I forgot to add 4 more HS feeder teams for the 2026 season. Should we add 8 for the 2027 season or just 4? Thoughts?

We added the following 4 HS teams for the 2025 season...
-Houston Hornets
-Ft. Worth Falcons
-Austin Anteaters
-Manhattan Monarchs

[mikezone13]

We do need to increase the number of draft rounds if we expand the the number of feeders just to make sure the talent gets distributed, as opposed to the free agent free for all after the draft.

However, remember HS guys whoa re not drafted will go back to HS or maybe even to College, if they're of the right age so this 'should' stop the issue of decent talent being available as FAs and then it being a free for all for the most active GMs.

[mstreeter06]

We do need to increase the number of draft rounds if we expand the the number of feeders just to make sure the talent gets distributed, as opposed to the free agent free for all after the draft.

However, remember HS guys whoa re not drafted will go back to HS or maybe even to College, if they're of the right age so this 'should' stop the issue of decent talent being available as FAs and then it being a free for all for the most active GMs.

That is a good point. We probably should get to 10 rounds for the draft at the minimum.

I just worry about the draft dragging on longer than the normal 7-10 days to finish 8 rounds.

I think we really should find the best solution to move the draft date to around late June or early July from November.

[LT]

Not sure on expanding the draft to 10 rounds - the last 4 round or more of these drafts is loaded with poor work ethic 1 star or less guys. I did some quick research on draft history since 2017 (expansion year, and I do not count the 2020 draft since it was manually created) almost no players from round 5 and beyond have made it and, of those, almost none have done anything significant.

I know I have picked up one FA (post draft) who has turned into a very good player (David Pegas), but I have been pretty active (and perhaps I have a bad eye for FA talent), but very few ever really improved. They just became farm system fodder and eventually released into the FA pile a few seasons after I signed them.

2017
10 players round 4 and on made it to AFBL - none has a VORP over 3.6 and he played only 130 games.

2018
12 players round 4+. One 36.4 VORP, a relief pitcher and one guy at 11.7, the other 10 were insignificant.

2019
15 hitters and no pitchers from round 4+. Two 4th round solid players, 40.3 VORP and 25.4.

2021
9 total players round 4+. No one of significance.

2022
14 players, only 1 has played in 100 games.

2023+

I realize this will change but only 12 players from 2023 and on have sniffed the AFBL.

Overall

I think only 1 player before round 5 has made a real impact, and it is as a reliever. The numbers do not really justify adding more rounds to the draft. I don't care one way or the other, but I am not worried that the extra 'talent' is going to really help the more active owners...

[silverwolf]

Note that in OOTP16, I've found that almost all undrafted players return to school and do not enter the FA pool.  I know this league is still on OOTP15, but something to consider if (when?) it eventually moves to a newer version.

[mstreeter06]

I forgot to add 4 more HS feeder teams for the 2026 season. Should we add 8 for the 2027 season or just 4? Thoughts?

We added the following 4 HS teams for the 2025 season...
-Houston Hornets
-Ft. Worth Falcons
-Austin Anteaters
-Manhattan Monarchs

I forgot to add more HS feeder teams for the 2026 and 2027 seasons so we'll add 6 HS feeder teams for the upcoming 2028 season, 6 HS feeder teams in 2029, then 4 HS feeder teams in 2030 to complete our original plan to add 16 more HS feeder teams. This will get us to 36 HS feeder teams and keep us at 20 COL feeder teams.

[mstreeter06]

Also should expand the draft from 8 rounds to 10 rounds? I would say yes pending the implementation of moving the draft date from the offseason to midseason.