If you click here, you get to a page on Baseball America's wonderful website. The page can be a gateway to reviewing every roster in every organization in Major League Baseball. I'm a stathead, and I'm fascinated with how teams are built, so this page probably interests me more than the average fan. And, over lunch, I clicked onto the rosters of the AAA teams of every Major League team. What I found, generally, was that the rosters are populated with the following types of players: aging vets with Major League experience looking for one last shot, aging vets who might have gotten a cup of coffee in the majors hoping for one more shot (these guys can be younger than the first group, aging minor league vets hoping for their first shot (and the good stories that come with that first shot), and up-and-coming players getting more experience so that perhaps they'll be ready to make a significant impact in the Majors. From my read, the first three groups comprise the bulk of the roster, especially the position players. Pitchers are more of a mixed bag, but suffice it to say that the average age on a minor-league roster appears to be great than 25, which means that these players have been in the minors for a considerable amount of time (whether they came to the minors out of high school after three years of college).
All that said, here's a list of some of the more prominent names, by organization, and their ages (all of the players are at the AAA affiliate):
Arizona Diamondbacks: Ruben Gotay (26)
Atlanta Braves: Vladimir Nunez (34)
Baltimore Orioles: Jolbert Cabrera (36)
Chicago Cubs: Chad Fox (38), So Taguchi (39), Mark Johnson (33)
Chicago White Sox: Keith Ginter (33), Andy Phillips (32), Daryle Ward (33)
Cincinnati Reds: Johnny Gomes (28)
Cleveland Indians: Matt Herges (39), Tomo Ohka (33)
Colorado Rockies: Josh Fogg (32), Sal Fasano (37), Mark Bellhorn (34)
Houston Astros: Brendan Donnelley (37), Matt Kata (31)
Kansas City Royals: Bruce Chen (31)
Los Angeles Dodgers: Shawn Estes (36), Eric Milton (33)
New York Mets: Elmer Dessens (38), Nelson Figueroa (34), Mike Lamb (33), Wily Mo Pena (27) and Bobby Kielty (32)
New York Yankees: Casey Fossum (31), Brett Tomko (36)
Philadelphia Phillies: Mike Koplove (32), David Newhan (35), Pablo Ozuna (34)
San Diego Padres: Emil Brown 34)
San Francisco Giants: Ramon Ortiz (35)
Seattle Mariners: Chris Woodward (32)
Tampa Bay Rays: Randy Choate (33), Adam Kennedy (32)
Texas Rangers: Bryan Corey (35)
Toronto Blue Jays: Wade Miller (35), Jason Lane (32)
Washington Nationals: Ron Villone (39), Josh Bard (31), Ryan Langerhans (29), Corey Patterson (29).
If a team is n't mentioned, it means either that a) they don't have a player over 30 on their AAA roster or (b) they have someone in their early 30's whom you probably wouldn't know.
In any event, take a look at the website and tool around in the rosters and the statistics. You'll learn a lot about the future of your favorite Major League team.
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Now, many of the really good prospects play at AA and often come up without going through AAA, or with only a minor stop there.
See, for example, Cameron Maybin of the Marlins.
TIGOBLUE
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