Article on the "AAAA" players.

[Kingdom]

It's an insider article, I'll copy and paste for the smart people who don't give ESPN any money.

Nelson Cruz and Carlos Pena escaped the 4A mold, but they are exceptions to the rule - MLB - ESPN

Just days before acquiring first base prospect Anthony Rizzo from the San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs general manager Theo Epstein appeared on Chicago radio and restated his support for Bryan LaHair.

"Bryan LaHair is our first baseman," Epstein said. "I don't believe in the concept of 4A players. The guy can hit."
The "4A hitter" is as old as the minor leagues themselves; it's the idea that some players are just too good for Triple-A but not good enough for the majors. For every guy who figures things out late like Nelson Cruz, or even far less than star-level players like Jorge Cantu, there are plenty of Triple-A sluggers like Kila Ka'aihue, Brad Eldred, or going back more to Calvin Pickering and Sam Horn, who put up crazy numbers but never had big league careers.

Are they 4A hitters? Does such a thing even exist? Are 4A hitters simply players who never got the right shot or got cold at the wrong time and never received the opportunity to un-bury themselves? Or are there some players who simply can't handle the job? I talked to several people in the industry to get their answers.
While not everyone even agrees on the existence of such players, there were three main ways a player can earn that label:

He has to really hit

One National League executive doesn't really believe in the concept of the 4A hitter. "I don't think it's that 4A-type guys can't hit major league pitching so much as it's 4A-type guys have no value besides their bat," he explains. "If you are a bad first baseman, or left fielder, or designated hitter, just being an average big league hitter doesn't really cut it, so you better hit the moment you get an opportunity or the industry moves on to someone else."


An American League scouting executive agrees: "If a guy is a strong defender, certain teams can give him a lengthier trial, but if hitting is all they can potentially do, the game doesn't allow that kind of time. If his game beyond his bat is mediocre or worse, it often doesn't allow the club to give the player the time needed for the talent to manifest."
As for how much time it takes, that can be unpredictable. For some players it can be a month of two, or in the case of Kansas City Royals outfielder Alex Gordon, it can take years. (Of course, Gordon was given more time than most to figure things out since he was a high draft pick whom the club had invested a lot of money in.) Adjustments are a necessary factor, and those bring in factors players never see in the minor leagues.


An inability to make adjustments

For more than one industry insider, the biggest challenge of jumping from the minors to the majors is not about the opponents on the field, but the opponents in the stands, specifically the ones behind home plate. "The minor leagues are about player development, and the major leagues are about winning," explains another National League exec. "The minor leagues don't have advance scouts. Advance scouts are there to take apart hitters and exploit weaknesses. The players that can't adjust to that are the ones that end up 4A hitters."
An American League scouting executive echoes that sentiment. "Miguel Cabrera and Justin Upton don't grow on trees," he says. "Everyone else that is human is going to go through an adjustment period."
He continued by giving several examples of players who took more time than expected to reach their potential. "Nelson Cruz bounced all over and then exaggerated his stance and hits in the middle of a World Series lineup. Mike Morse transformed into a more physical player, made some changes in his setup, and hit 30 home runs. Any team in baseball could have had Carlos Pena, but he didn't become the 40 home run guy people thought he would be all along until he was 29 and on his fifth team. Some guys never get it, but while all 30 teams want the best and the brightest, we're giving up on players too soon sometimes as well."
For a veteran National League scout, the inability to make adjustments can lead to additional issues when it comes to makeup.
"At first, it's not about the lights, or the two decks in the stadium, or the crowd," he insists. "It's about the breaking balls and the depth of arsenals and the command. It's an inability to adjust that comes first, but that can lead to the mental stuff where players get overwhelmed, and the 4A label just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Still, for the most part, the industry believes that there are some players who will never make the adjustments, and there are some scouting clues as to who those players will be.
A lack of talent

While we can list plenty of players who shed the label of 4A hitter and became productive big league hitters, if not stars, they're still the minority, so talent does play some role.
"4A hitters definitely exist," says an American League assistant general manager. "There's definitely enough of a gap to allow some skill sets to exploit Triple-A pitching and not adjust. They can be crushing average fastballs at Triple-A."
An American League scout concurs: "Some of these guys are getting six real mistakes to crush a week at Triple-A. In the the big leagues, he gets one or two a month."
Another American League scouting exec explained that the one attribute that often separates the wheat from the chaff is bat speed.
"Many of these players have more strength than bat speed," he says. "They have to cheat to get to pitches, and those extra two ticks of velocity in the big leagues kill them."
A National League scout gave a real-world example: "I saw Dallas McPherson going off in 2011, slugging .505 at Triple-A Charlotte, which he's done for years. But in looking at him, he was still very exploitable. He really had to cheat to catch up. His setup is scary; open and way off the plate. That leaves him vulnerable inside, and if I can see that, you know big league pitchers are going to see that."
Still, identifying the players who will buck convention remains one of the game's great mysteries. "Yes, there are guys who just put it together from time to time, but they're in the minority," says an NL exec. "Usually, if a guy fails and reaches a certain age, it's just not going to happen."
An American League exec shared in the frustration: "There's no rhyme or reason to it. Whether you are projecting with scouting or sabermetrics, you still need a touch of Nostradamus. The hardest part of the game is getting over the Triple-A hump, and it's still very hard for us to predict who is going to get over it."

These five current minor league sluggers have all been given the dreaded 4A label.

Chris Carter, 1B: Not the A's prospect, but the former Stanford product. Carter got a chance with the Mets in 2010, but funky swing has not translated in the majors despite career minor league averages of .305/.376/.512.
Brad Eldred, 1B: He mashed 12 home runs for the Pirates in 2005, but hit just .221 with 77 strikeouts in 190 at-bats. Eldred has played for four organizations in the last four years, and not gotten another look despite 105 home runs in 418 minor league games.
Stefan Gartrell, OF: He's hit 76 home runs over the last three years in the White Sox and Braves systems without sniffing the big leagues. Even when the Braves were desperate for offense down the stretch in 2011, Gartrell did not get the call.
Brad Nelson, 1B: He was once considered the top offensive prospect in the Brewers system, but has just 31 major league plate appearances and has begun to bounce around in his late 20s. He hit.281/.360/.501 for the Rangers Triple-A affiliate in 2011.
Cody Ransom, SS: Teams must really not believe in him because even though he can play short and has five seasons of 20-plus homers in the minors, he's never been more of an emergency backup in the bigs.

[catman]

The Twins had a couple of guys like this a few years back. Michael Restovich was supposed to be the next power hitter for the team. He missed. Brandon Wood could fit this category, as could Jeff Clement.

[Kingdom]

Definitely.

[love_that_reefer]

Todd Linden, I miss you!

[realmofotalk]

Probably not a coincidence that in addition to the one-dimensional first basemen, third basemen tend to fall in the 4A player category given the position demands a solidly built slugger who can still move well around the hot corner.