farm league

Noun

farm league (plural farm leagues)

1. One or more minor league teams owned by a baseball franchise and used as a training and testing ground for rookies, who, if they perform well, move on to play in the main major league team.
   • The Yankees entered the farm league business in 1929 when they purchased Chambersburg in the Class D Blue Ridge League.2005, Lance A. Berger, Management Wisdom From the New York Yankees' Dynasty, →ISBN
   • Still, the Colonial League experiment was successful enough in its first season for the Federals to become interested in pursuing it as a farm league for its excess players.2009, Robert Peyton Wiggins, The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, →ISBN, page 229
2. (broadly) A minor league team from which scouts recruit players for the major league.
   • Now the CEO of Isiah International Inc. has his sights set on nothing short of establishing an official farm league for the NBA, establishing a system similar to the one which currently operates in Major League Baseball.1999 November, “It's a whole new league”, in Black Enterprise, volume 30, number 3, page 28
   • Scenarios were floated that the CFL and WLAF would merge or that the CFL would revert to a fall schedule and become a farm league for the NFL.2005, Steve O'Brien, The Canadian Football League, →ISBN
3. (broadly) A position or venue from which talent is recruited for showing potential.
   • An industry source told MP3.com that the site is "supposed to be a farm-league thing.1999 November, “UMG May Use Web Site For A&R Purposes”, in CMJ New Music Report, volume 60, number 642, page 9
   • Hire from the farm league. I constantly counsel church leaders to hire from within.2011, James Emery White, What They Didn't Teach You in Seminary, →ISBN, page 29