Even if you keep an eye on the stats, they don’t mean much without context. Some leagues have parks that are very hitter frienly, others have park that are very pitcher friendly. That’s the tip of the iceberg with the minors, though.

If you follow a particular team, I would suggest visiting http://www.sbnation.com and following the blog for that team. Most of the blogs cover news about the major league teams as well as the minors.

A good place to go for minor league stats is:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/

For even more baseball sites, check out this article that review quite a few sites:
http://www.observingcasually.com/what-are-the-best-baseball-sites/
Total Comments by kosmo: 269

Between 1976 and 2005, 30 players were select #1 overall. 17 of those player were All Stars at some point in their careers.

Others were serviceable major league players (Jeff King, Tim Belcher, Kris Benson, Pat Burrell, Delmon Young). Others were the victims of injuries (Ben McDonald, Brien Taylor, Paul Wilson, Matt Anderson).

Really, there are just a handful of guys who just flat-out failed to develop into good players – Al Chambers, Shawn Abner, Bryan Bullington, and Matt Bush)

So you’re much better off having the #1 pick than the #15 pick. Sure, you could pick a bust, but you could also pick a bust in the NFL … and for all of the chatter about Strasburg, the NFL busts cost more money.
Total Comments by kosmo: 269

We should take a deeper look into the question. What, exactly, is Harper giving up? Weekends hanging out with his friends at the mall? Riding four wheelers around the back 40? No, not really. He spends much of the time being shuttled around the country participating in tournaments on various teams.

He might actually have MORE of a social life spending the next two years at JUCO and the minors, because he’ll be on exactly ONE team, with a consistent group of teammates around him.

And while it sounds like Harper would be an infant compared to the other players in the draft, this really isn’t the case. He’ll turn 18 on October 16, 2010, so he’s about six weeks younger than some of the other players who will be drafted. And he’ll be almost two years OLDER than the minimum age for players in Latin America.

Personally, I would have loved to exit high school early and move on to the next phase in my life – I found it rather boring. I do realize that other people enjoy it greatly

Sliding onto the tangential question of whether players should take the money or stay in school (high school seniors, and early-entry college players), I am forced to push aside my general philosophy that education is paramount. In these particular cases, I feel that it makes sense to grab the money, since it might not be there next year – a career-ending injury can happen in a heartbeat. Major League Baseball does have a scholarship program for players who want to finish their degree, so players would not be left out in the cold. I’m not sure if the other sports leagues have something similar.

I would, of course, encourage these players to finish their degree – or, at the very least, take some personal finance classes in order to make better financial decisions.
Total Comments by kosmo: 269