Player value is concentrated in the six pre-free agency years. You want those years to be peak production years as much as possible. And you want to minimize "learning time" while in the majors. You can't eliminate it completely, but you want to try to minimize the period of time in the majors when a player like Swanson is "figuring things out." Half a season in AAA is probably optimal for prospects like him, Albies and Acuna.
The period that Freddie Freeman spent in AAA probably helped him become a more complete hitter. Skipping AAA probably hurt Francoeur, Heyward and Andruw to some extent. Chipper by the way spent almost a full season in AAA. I like what we did with Chipper and Freddie a lot more. Perhaps they are simply better talents. But they seem to me to be more complete hitters, with a better ability to adjust when the league makes an adjustment against them. I think some of this can be learned in AAA, where there are a lot of smart experienced pitchers with major league experience.
