In the not-too-distant past, it was relatively rare for an organization to break camp with the best prospect on its roster. Although that still happened occasionally, MLB’s service time structure was set up so that keeping a top prospect in the minor leagues, even for two weeks to start the season, would effectively control him for seven years rather than the standard six. There were obvious exceptions to this idea. Atlanta fans will surely remember. Jason Hayward He broke camp as a 20-year-old and hit a three-run homer on Opening Day, but there were far more instances of a player being kept in the minor leagues for a one-year extension. kris bryant, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., george springer And everyone else was called up to the majors when they had spent enough time in the minors to give the club another year of control. There was nothing inherently evil about that gamble. The team operated and made business decisions in accordance with collective bargaining rules.
The 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement tried to implement some tangible incentives for teams to bring their best players north to start the season, but it was largely effective. Prospect Promotion Incentives (PPI) allow any prospect who lands on two top 100 lists and is called up early enough to earn a full service year to earn a bonus draft pick for his team in that season’s Rookie of the Year voting or MVP/Cy Young voting for the next three seasons.
There are also distractions to keep players in check. For the same top prospects who qualify, finishing in the top two of any league’s Rookie of the Year voting will earn them one year of major league service time, regardless of when they are called up. In these cases, the prospect still has about 90% of the season remaining, which is plenty of time to produce a ROY-worthy performance.
Now, teams know that holding a player back for 15 days or so will have the disadvantage of giving them a year of service anyway and making that player ineligible for future PPI selections. Therefore, it is becoming more and more common for high-profile prospects to break camp on a team’s roster.
With that in mind, and with less than two weeks until Opening Day, it seems worthwhile to take a look at the list of top prospects that could be factored into a team’s Opening Day plans.
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