Relative return

Relative return is the percentage of return any business, stock, or even baseball player will yield in comparison to similar competitors.

Making it to the majors is a dream that most young baseball players have during their childhood. Out of the millions of kids worldwide that fall in love with the sport, only a small percentage will make it to the MLB.

On top of that, the majority of players in the MLB will not be superstars like Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, or Mike Trout. When a rookie gets signed to a team, it is difficult to compare his skill and performance to superstars that have been crushing the game for years.

There are cases when rookies make an immediate name for themselves, but the majority of these players will have growing pains. General managers will analyze a rookie's potential relative return to players that are similar to them. They will use previous rookies as benchmarks in which a fair and more legitimate comparison can be made to analyze a rookie's game.