Midwest League 2009

Average Team Ages

This page compares the ages of the players assigned the teams of the Midwest League on opening day of the 2009 season.

Team ages matter. They tell you something about the player development philosophies of the parent organizations, and give clues about the makeup of your local team. Some organizations draft mainly college players, others mainly work with high school talent. Some teams rush players through the system, others move prospects along slowly. A team with many players signed from the Frontier League is likely to be older than one with a large Latin American contingent.

While systems generally have year-to-year consistencies, over time things change. This is one clue about how our baseball families build their organizations. Don't read too much into it--but it's interesting knowledge.

The Midwest League's been aging over the past decade, though it seems to have stabilized around 22 years of age. The trend appears to be significant; the typical Midwest League player is half-a-year older than he was a decade ago.

                                   Pitchers    Hitters     Team

League Average                       22.1       21.9       22.0

Western Division
Beloit Snappers               MIN    22.1  (6T) 21.8  (8T) 22.0  (6T)
Burlington Bees               KC     22.5  (2)  21.9  (7)  22.2  (4)
Cedar Rapids Kernels          LAA    21.8 (10T) 22.1  (3T) 22.0  (6T)
Clinton LumberKings           SEA    23.0  (1)  21.8  (8T) 22.4  (3)
Kane County Cougars           OAK    22.4  (3)  22.8  (2)  22.6  (2)
Peoria Chiefs                 CHI-N  21.8 (10T) 21.4 (12T) 21.6 (12)
Quad Cities River Bandits     STL    21.8 (10T) 21.7 (11)  21.8  (9T)
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers     MIL    21.6 (13)  21.6  (5T) 21.5 (13)

Eastern Division
Dayton Dragons                CIN    22.1  (6T) 21.8  (8T) 21.9  (8)
Fort Wayne Tincaps            SD     22.1  (6T) 22.1  (3T) 22.1  (5)
Great Lakes Loons             LAD    22.2  (4T) 23.3  (1)  22.8  (1)
Lansing Lugnuts               TOR    22.0  (8)  20.9 (14)  21.4 (14)
South Bend Silver Hawks       ARI    22.2  (4T) 21.4 (12T) 21.8  (9T)
West Michigan Whitecaps       DET    21.3 (14)  22.0  (4)  21.7 (11)

• Oldest Player in the League: Wisconsin Pitcher Jim Henderson (born October 21, 1982)
• Youngest Player in the League: Lansing Outfielder Markus Brisker (born August 21, 1990)

Ages are in "years", which are calculated as of July 1, 2009. Rankings show the oldest teams as (1) and the youngest as (14).

This data is derived from each team's opening day roster, April 9, 2009. Ages for players were determined from rosters available on MILB.com, and averaged.