Quote Originally Posted by Todd4State View Post
That's because rookie ball is sort of like orientation for work. It gets you in the system. Then a lot of teams will limit college guys if they have played a lot in year one- especially pitchers. On top of that most organizations aren't going to wholesale cut their AA guys for the new guys.

Troll on.
It's not a troll. Look at the performance of guys starting out in pro ball from the SEC. Dansby Swanson was taken #1 overall after putting up a 1.046 OPS as a junior. He then OPS'd at .876 in short season A ball and .958 at A+ the next year. Then got promoted to AA and posted a .744 OPS.

There is no evidence that the SEC is equivalent to AA. Otherwise you would see some teams try draftees out in MLB immediately since success in AA usually means you could jump straight to the majors. If Rooker was OPS'ing 1.400 at a level at all equivalent to AA, he'd be an easy top-5 draft pick.

The difference between the SEC and rookie or A ball is that you do see some pitchers that are at a different level, guys like David Price, or Kyle Wright, or Alex Faedo, etc. You aren't going to see a guy that advanced in A ball. But overall, it's pretty equivalent.