No. It's great for what it is but it will never compete to get "the best" players and honestly, except for the big time prospects (that are only hyped because the MLB fans are excited about the future), no one cares if you're a "2nd division" player or a "5th division" level player. They're all GREAT baseball players and it's fun to watch them play up close and personal. Independent ball has a niche where fans can get up close and personal. Stadiums are small (but often very nice and they host lots of tournaments for high schools and colleges) and attendance is low and you have access to players and coaches like you don't get at other levels.

I've seen or worked at all levels of baseball and there is something special about every level. The majors are a huge spectacle. The best players in the world trying to win the championship of the entire world. But they're also distant. You can't see them. You can't touch them. Many of them dislike you (check out comments many made about how great it was playing without fans or media during the covid year).

AA and AAA (and to a lesser extent A) are young guys trying to take that last step to a lifetime dream. Or veterans who are 1 injury away from getting back. The promos are more fun. The stadiums are smaller. The atmosphere is chill because no one knows who won the AAA championship last year except people who were in the stadium.

College Wooden bat, and Independent leagues are hit or miss but the good ones are great. The shitty ones are guys playing on community college fields with 43 fans but the good ones can get 2-8k fans. The promos and fan engagement is awesome. You can usually walk right up to the fence and get autographs. Players often don't have a tunnel, so they walk through the stands and get high fives from the kids. I worked for a team like this (medical) and just sat on the edge of the dugout. I'd get kids all the time that wanted so and sons autograph (or even mine which was weird since I'm just a fat guy with a team tee shirt) and I'd get it for them between innings. Some of our players went on the the majors. Most didn't. All of them were very very good college players and it was high level, fun baseball.

For what it's worth, I've been told by "baseball people" and from what I've seen have no reason to disagree, that in terms of quality of play, good Independent league ball is equivalent to being slightly below AA but definitely better than A. (Again, it varies greatly. I'm sure there are shitty leagues that are really bad. The Sugar Land Skeeters had Roger Clemons just a couple years after he last pitched in the majors and Tracy McGrady -very good baseball player- shortly after his NBA career).

Absolutely. That's a pretty big signing bonus for 1990. I worked sports medicine for several years for a fairly high-level college wooden bat team. We'd have a couple guys get drafted each year. Some guys would play for us for a year or 2 and then go to the Cape Cod league and get drafted after that.

We had one kid once who had a pretty horrific, non-baseball injury. He was on track to be an early/mid round pick before the injury sidetracked him.

He rehabbed for 2 years, missed 2 seasons of college, and one season of summer. He went undrafted (because he hadn't pitched in 2ish years and no one knew if his limbs worked properly). He made his first start since the injury with us and did very well. He started 5 or 6 games before getting signed.

They gave him a $35k signing bonus but I'm pretty sure he only got that because he was highly thought of before, was stellar in 5 or 6 games, and most importantly, he was on the open market and held a bidding war that drafted players can't do.

All our other players, who I stayed in touch with or heard through the grapevine later, never got signing bonuses unless they were picked very early (like top 3-5 rounds or so). Most stick sryound for 1-3 years and then dissappear into selling insurance or working baseball clinics.

Lookup the Frontier League. It's the only league I'm familiar with (I worked for a team that used to be in the league - but the team was in a small town and the league outgrew it). They have teams in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago areas. Those are the only 3 teams I can think of off the top of my head. I'd guess the other teams are all near major markets or the main attractions in tertiary markets.

Independent baseball (and high-level college, wooden bat leagues) is awesome and well-supported by their local communities.

Try asking again with perhaps slightly different wording in a week or two. This sub has some good comments sometimes but often (especially with very complex subjects that are "popular") people here know just enough to misconstrue the facts.

This is truly a sad day. Soon the Commies might be a competent, well-run organization thay competes for championships and doesn't give me a reason to laugh or gawk at the slow motion train crash.

Oh wow. I was there 10 days and it was like that the very last night. It was crazy!

Dude, I was in Reykjavík that night and they were incredible even in the city!