The MLB Trade Deadline is now in the rearview mirror, and while much of the focus is on the players who are putting on new big league uniforms, the ripple effects are felt throughout an entire organization. As prospects change teams, the spots they leave behind need to be filled, which means dozens of minor leaguers across the league are being moved to new levels over these last couple of weeks. While that represents a step forward in their on-field growth, it can also be a challenging off-field adjustment for a young player.
"I think it's not as easy as it may seem," said Pirates top prospect Seth Hernandez, who began this season in Single-A Bradenton before being promoted to High-A Greensboro after six starts. "Obviously, you know everybody through spring training, but going to a new squad, you got to learn the vibe, you got to learn the coaching staff, how they go about things. You definitely don't want to be the guy to mess up a locker room, so you want to be a good teammate."
Stepping foot in a new locker room, much like transferring to a new school or showing up on the first day of college, can either be an overwhelming feeling of starting over or an exciting feeling of getting a new opportunity with new people.
"You meet so many new guys throughout the season," explained Nationals prospect Eli Willits, who was the first overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. "Just to be able to have new guys come in, it's such a cool opportunity to meet new people and make new friends."
Many of these young players learn quickly that the key to adapting to a new environment is simply trusting what got them there in the first place.
"Just be yourself," said Hernandez. "Not trying to be anybody you're not. I think that's the most important part." That was a sentiment echoed by Mets outfielder A.J. Ewing, who has already played at three different levels this season, after playing at three different levels during the 2025 season as well. "Just be yourself. Don't change. The organization made that decision for a reason. Just understand that you belong and your game will work."
To help young players with the transition to a new team, all MLB organizations lay the groundwork for these promotions before a season even begins. While Major League players are participating in spring training in their own part of the complex, all of the minor leaguers have spring training together. That means all the players in Single-A will be in meeting rooms and on-field drills with the players in Double-A or Triple-A. Those weeks together pay dividends in the future when a player changes levels.
"I would say it was an easy transition into that clubhouse because the Guards do a great job with keeping everyone really close," said Guardians' prospect Ralphy Velazquez, who was promoted from Double-A Akron to Triple-A Columbus in May. "We have a lot of camps in the off-season with a lot of players, and you spend time with those guys every day in the off-season. So to jump to a new level and get in a new clubhouse, you already know most of the guys and have hung out with them a ton. So they're all great guys, and it's super easy for sure."
"I think there's hardly ever a scenario where somebody's walking into a clubhouse and doesn't know anybody," said Stosh Hoover, the Director of Minor League Operations for the Rangers. "You're going to walk into familiar faces there that are going to help you out. Veteran players do a really good job of bringing young guys who are up there for the first time under their wing and helping them out, but I think all those connections are made during spring when these guys spend so much time with each other."
In addition to making sure the players all know each other, organizations also ensure that the players have access to all the coaches during spring training.
"Hopefully the organization's done everything they needed to make sure the coaches are around the players throughout spring training," continued Hoover," so I do not think there are times where the coaches aren't already familiar with the player or the player isn't already familiar with the staff there."
That familiarity not only helps the player but also helps the coaches, who not only already know the player but are constantly kept in the loop on that player's strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies.
"A lot of it comes down to the departmental communication," said Sean Buchanan, the Assistant Pitching Coordinator and Triple-A Pitching Coach for the Astros. "Our pitching coaches are in constant contact with one another about the things that are going on at their affiliate. Guys are bouncing ideas off each other. We're sharing video or sharing data. There's systems in place where everything that's going on is pretty much monitored, or is at least being talked about, so that if you do get a player sent your way, you can go back and see what they've been working on."
Those systems Buchanan mentions involve not only on-field instruction but also the seemingly mundane aspects of schedules, meetings, and documentation.
"We try to make sure schedules are similar, and practice plans and everything from a daily standpoint are similar across the board," explained Hoover, "so the transition is easier because you're going through a lot of the same stuff, just in a different city and a different ballpark. We expect messaging about how schedules are sent out, the timing on the date when things are going to occur, to largely be similar across the board, so there isn't a lot to get used to on that end. It's just, 'I'm putting on a new uniform, and I'm at a higher level, and everything else is the same.'"
The process of adapting to a new clubhouse then becomes secondary to focusing on their continued development on the field.
"I think it's great to have that opportunity to switch levels in the middle of the year," said Willits. "It means you're doing things right. You're playing the game well. So just to continue to go out there and grind each day, try and win every game."
"It's not always easy for everybody, but I think that when the game starts, and you go between the lines, there has to be a switch flip," echoed Ewing. "That this is what matters right now, and nothing else outside of this is going to affect how I play."
The ease of a transition can also be impacted by the suddenness of the move. Most players have no inkling that a promotion is coming, even if they've been producing at a high level.
"I don't think players have an idea that a promotion is going to come," said Buchanan. "The picture is just a lot less clear at the lower levels because of the trickle-down effect" of other promotions, demotions, playing time concerns, etc. "There are just so many layers to a promotion."
"It's kind of just out of the blue," admitted Ewing about most of his promotions. "I was not expecting it at that time, but I was really grateful for the opportunity that was presented to me."
Even if the news can come out of the blue for a player, on the front office side, those conversations have likely been ongoing for weeks.
"When it comes to a prospect or somebody who you're being really intentional about their development, they're conversations that happen for a bit," revealed Hoover. "You're looking for, does their performance merit it from whatever a specific organization's KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are, right? Every organization is going to be a little bit different in what they're looking for and what they measure that tells them that, from a performance standpoint, a player is ready for the challenge of the next level... Then there's constant conversation with the staff and getting an idea if they're ready from a maturity standpoint. Are they ready from a physical standpoint? And discuss it with the performance staff, medical, and strength and conditioning. What have the [minor league] coordinators heard and seen if they've gone around? Then obviously you're having discussions within the front office about what the plan is for him when he does get moved up, and what are we looking to see?"
"I think it can generally be something that's discussed over weeks leading up to it, as you see the performance continue to progress and remain consistent. We try to look for windows where you feel like they've hit everything you need them to hit to move up to another level, and it's a good moment to get them up."
That means that not all promotions occur when the stats indicate that a player should be moved. Oftentimes, the surface-level stats are not the primary concern of the front office.
"It's really easy to look at the numbers and say, 'How is this guy not promoted yet?'" admitted Buchanan. "But so much of it has to do with things like, how old is the player? How many more years of club control do they have? What is their contract situation? What does the depth look like at that position above them? Those all become factors in whether this guy's going to get promoted by now or not."
Teams also often care more about those individual performance indicators, or KPIs, for a player than their surface-level stats.
"From a pitching standpoint, you're looking at, if they're coming up as a starter, are they covering the innings that they need to?" explained Hoover. "Are they working out of situations to make sure they get their innings and pitch counts for that night? Are they doing it on a consistent basis? Are their pitches and the characteristics that they're trying to achieve remaining consistent throughout? You could have a guy whose ERA might not look great, but his walk percentages are low, his strikeout percentages are high. Some of the underlying pitching numbers look good. His velocity remains consistent. His breaking ball has gotten better. Maybe the defense didn't play well around him, or he got hit around a little bit in Amarillo because a pop-up goes out for a home run. So you have park-adjusted numbers, and every organization is going to have their own internal analytics and systems running, so you can eliminate as much of the noise to make sure that the metrics under the hood match with the performance you're expecting."
"People are sometimes like, really, this is the guy they promoted?" laughs Buchanan. "And sometimes that's because we need to see, 'Can this guy play at the next level right now?' Because decisions need to be made about their future."
Then, once the decision is made to promote a prospect to another affiliate, an entirely different system of pulleys and levers begins
"The managers deliver the news, so we bring in the manager, and we'll let them know that [the player] is getting called up to the next level," details Hoover. "We'll give the player everything they need to know about the new coaching staff and what to expect, and then I begin to handle the travel. So is it something where we need the guy there tomorrow? Some guys will drive, depending on how far away the affiliate is."
That's what happened to Velazquez, who was driving to a road trip for Double-A Akron when he found out. "I got a phone call ahead of time on our off day. I was on the road to our away series in Double-A, and I had to turn the car around and head right back to Columbus."
While Velázquez was driving to Columbus, the Guardians' minor league operations staff was likely already working behind the scenes to facilitate his move. A collection of clubhouse employees, travel coordinators, and housing coordinators at the two minor league affiliates work together to coordinate the player's move from one team to the next.
"They take care of you," admitted Ewing. "I knew exactly where I needed to be at what time, and they got me here, and I didn't have to worry about anything."
"It's always cool to get a glimpse and see the inner workings of the clubhouse guys and travel people and everything like that," explained Buchanan. "It's a pretty seamless process. The player gets pulled into the office and gets told he's promoted. Within the hour, he's got a plane ticket in his email. His stuff has been and been shipped overnight for him, and he's given instructions that, at this time, he has to Uber to the airport and get on a plane. When you land, call this person and take an Uber to this location, and your stuff will be waiting for you."
"We cover housing," detailed Hoover, "so if a player is home, they've got to pack up all of their stuff and get everything ready. They travel with it. Then I've got to get them into a new apartment at their new location. There's a whole lifestyle change, right?"
That lifestyle includes moving to a new city, living in a new home, and familiarizing yourself with new surroundings. Some players, like Ewing, focus "more so just on the field stuff." But others, like Velazquez, like to take the time to get to know their new neighborhoods: "I try to make it feel like home as much as I can, for sure," revealed Velazquez. "Definitely going out, exploring, trying new restaurants with my buddies."
However, sometimes it's not only the player adjusting.
"What if they have a fiancé or a wife that's living with them?" asked Hoover. "What if they have a child? What if they have a dog? They're now picking up and moving a family potentially across the country. So we've got to coordinate all of that on the back end. Is their wife traveling with them? Are they going to come later? Were they promoted while the team was on the road, so we need to have somebody else pack up their stuff at home and mail it... We specifically allow spouses and significant others to live with players in the apartment, so, to me, it's even more important on that end to know that they have somebody coming with them and have empathy for that and make sure that I've got an apartment ready for them whenever they get to the next town. It's an adjustment, so the goal is to try and make it as comfortable as possible because it can be difficult."
The empathy that Hoover mentions is necessary in many aspects of a prospect promotion. While some of it is necessary for the player, and potentially family, being moved to a new level, we often lose sight of the fact that a promotion to a new level can often mean another player is being demoted.
"A lot of times, when one player is going up, it means that somebody else is coming off a roster," explained Hoover, "so you never know what that's going to do. I think there's a little sensitivity in keeping everything as private as we can until the actual transaction is announced, or maybe the organization decides to bring it up and let the press go with it."
There are also the instances where a player sees his teammates promoted while he remains at the same level. Or a player feels that his on-field performance warrants a promotion, but one just never seems to come. Sometimes they might be blocked by another prospect at the position, or the organization wants to see one specific approach change a little more consistently.
"It can be difficult to sit in the dugout with a player who feels like they should have gotten that opportunity," revealed Buchanan. "You just try to keep their mind on being successful with the opportunity that they have in front of them, like, this is not your fault that you're still here. You're doing your job. You're doing what's expected of you. There are a lot of other things that are out of your control that are just going to be a waste of time and energy if you focus on those. So be present where your feet are. Control what you can control, and trust the process, and your opportunity will come.
That potential for change and upheaval, whether positive or negative, is ever-present in the minor leagues. The constant transitions can be a valuable part of the process. They allow players to learn how to deal with change and help solidify confidence in their abilities to fit in with any clubhouse. Yet, even if the players begin to learn not to change, as Ewing and Hernandez mentioned, they still know that a change of scenery is always lurking around the corner until that one day when the big league club comes calling.
"I've gotten comfortable in Columbus," admitted Velazquez, "but you never know when your time's gonna come to go up, so you always gotta be ready."
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