Exactly. I think we are assuming too much if we are assuming people were projecting him to be a minor leaguer his whole career. How else would you describe someone who has until now only pitched in the minor leagues? "Atilano, who has only pitched in the minor leagues" or "Atilano, a career minor leaguer". Ink and pixels aren't cheap. Condense that crap whenever possible
Every player making his first major league start, doesn't get described as a career minor leaguer. As a matter of fact, that description is actually quite rare. Daniel Stange, for example, pitcher for the Diamondbacks, played in his first major league game today a 'Stange "career minor leaguer"' search returns no Google results.
I did a more general Google search on "career minor leaguer" and the first result was a Post article about Rick Short. Now HE would have been accurately described as a career minor leaguer. He was 34 the first time he played in a major league game!
EDIT - The next result was about some Yankees farm player named Jon Weber. He's 32 and has been in the minors for 11 years, never playing a major league game. He is a career minor leaguer.
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It's contextual, I guess is what I'm saying.
