A look at each of the current playoff “contenders” lineup contributors & pitching staffs in regards to players developed internally. There are different avenues to building a winning team, some organizations may have placed more emphasis and had success in building an internal player base. In most cases the players developed by the clubs below are occupying “complimentary” roles on the rosters but indeed there are those who are shining stars as well.
Just saying that while I believe player development is very important to every organization in actuality the majority of big league active roster spots for all the “contenders” today are players acquired from other organizations via free agency, trade or waiver claims. That shouldn’t be a big surprise given the impact of free agency on the baseball industry.
Those players highlighted and underlined on the following list were signed prior to 2016 - an arbitrary cutoff since there’s a mindset that development systems should contribute in five year cycles. Only three teams ( Guardians & Cardinals with 8 and White Sox with 5 ) have five or more “contributors” currently on the roster that were signed in 2016 or later - the next highest total is 4 ( of which the Phillies currently have ).
National League :
Cardinals - 12 : Position Players : 8 ( Molina, Knizner, Donovan, Pujols, Gorman, Edman, Bader, Carlson ) - Pitchers : 4 ( Hudson, Pallante, Helsley, Oviedo ) - 8 players signed 2016 or later
Braves - 10 : Position Players : 5 ( Contreras, Riley, Harris, Swanson, Acuna ) - Albies would be 6 but just went on 60 day IL - Pitchers : 5 ( Fried, Anderson, Wright, Strider, Minter ) - 4 players signed 2016 or later
Mets - 9 : Position Players : 5 ( Nido, Alonso, McNeil, Guillorme, Nimmo ) - Pitchers : 4 ( Megill, Peterson, Lugo, Holderman ) - deGrom will be 5 when he returns. - 4 players signed 2016 or later
Phillies -9 : Position Players : - 4 ( Hoskins, Stott, Bohm, Vierling ) - Pitchers : 5 ( Nola, Eflin, Suarez, Brogdon, Dominguez ) - 4 players signed 2016 or later
Brewers - 8 : Position Players : 1 ( Cain ) - Pitchers : 7 ( Burns, Woodruff, Houser, Ashby, Peralta, Williams, Suter ) - 2 players signed 2016 or later
Dodgers - 8 : Position Players : 4 ( Smith, Rios, Lux, Bellinger ) - Pitchers : 4 ( Urias, Kershaw, Gonsolin, Almonte ) - Buehler would be 5 but is on IL - 3 players signed 2016 or later
Giants - 4 : Position Players : 2 ( Belt, Crawford) - Pitchers : 3 ( Webb, Doval, Rogers ) - 0 players signed 2016 or later
Padres - 3 : Position Players : 0 ( Tatis Jr is on 60 day IL ) - Pitchers : 3 ( Gore, Morejon, Wilson ) - 3 players signed 2016 or later
American League :
White Sox - 11 : Position Players : 7 ( Burger, Anderson, Mendick, Jimenez, Vaughn, Engel, Robert ) - Pitchers : 4 ( Bummer, Foster, Banks, Martin ) - Crochet is on 60 day IL - 5 players signed 2016 or later
Astros - 11 : Position Players : 6 ( Altuve, Bregman, Pena, Alvarez, McCormick, Tucker ) - Pitchers : 5 ( Valdez, Urquidy, Garcia, Javier, Abreu ) - 4 players signed 2016 or later
Guardians - 11 : Position Players : 4 ( Ramirez, Clement, Kwan, Palacios ) - Pitchers : 7 ( Bieber, Civale, Plesac, McKenzie, Sandlin, Hentges, Morgan ) - 8 players signed 2016 or later
Twins - 10 : Position Players : 7 ( Arraez, Polanco, Buxton, Kepler, Gordon, Miranda, Celestino ) - Pitchers : 3 ( Duffey, Jax, Ober ) - 3 players signed 2016 or later
Blue Jays - 9 : Position Players : 6 ( Jansen, Kirk, Guerrero Jr, Espinal, Bichette, Gurriel Jr ) - Pitchers : 3 ( Manoah, Romano, Mayza ) - 4 players signed 2016 or later
Red Sox - 8 : Position Players : 5 ( Vazquez, Dalbec, Devers, Bogaerts, Bradley Jr ) Pitchers : 3 ( Houck, Crawford, Barnes ) - 3 players signed 2016 or later
Yankees - 7 : Position Players : 3 ( Higashioka, Torres, Judge ) - Pitchers : 4 ( Severino, Montgomery, Schmidt, Marinaccio ) - 2 players signed 2016 or later
Rays - 7 : Position Players : 5 ( Lowe, Brujan, Walls, Franco, Kiermaier ) - Pitchers : 2 ( McClanahan, Baz ) - 4 players signed 2016 or later
Rangers - 4 : Position Players : 1 ( Huff ) - Pitchers : 3 ( Barlow, Martin, King ) - 3 players signed 2016 or later
Just Sayin - Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
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