Professionals in Poverty: Why the MLB’s Minor League System Needs to be Fixed
While one might believe that the opportunity to play sports professionally promises a future of enjoying extravagant wealth and fame, the realities of minor league baseball is nothing of the sort, as evidenced by the harrowing experiences retold by former MLB player Dirk Hayhurst in an opinion piece for Bleacher Report:
“When my minor league season was over, I worked two, sometimes three, jobs while sleeping on someone’s floor. I lived next to a school that let me work out in their gym for free because I couldn’t afford a gym membership. I had parents who could mortgage their house to help me, if necessary. It was hard, damn hard, but I did it” — Dirk Hayhurst
The unfortunate reality is that less than 20% of players who sign a minor league contract will ever be called up to the majors (Karcher), and these players often struggle to make ends meet in their quest to play at the highest level of professional baseball. While players who have reached MLB status receive an average annual salary of around $4.5 million dollars, those who are stuck playing in the lower tiers of the system only earn, on average, between a measly $5 and $14 thousand dollars per season — a compensation less than two percent of that of a major league player (Poindexter).
Combining this low compensation with grueling work conditions and inadequate player rights generated through MLB’s antitrust exemption, it will be hard for the league to maintain its success without rectifying the internal issues currently affecting its minor league system.
One of the main reasons that the MLB has enjoyed decades of success is its dominance over the American prospect pool. When considering its monopoly over young talent and its strong emphasis on player development, it is clear that the ultra-competitive minor league system not only helps the MLB defend its status as the highest level of professional baseball played in the world, but also showcases the world’s most talented players and provides the most entertaining product possible for their audience.
However, in recent decades, baseball has decreased in popularity in reference to the three other major sports played professionally — football, basketball, hockey — both in terms of youth involvement and entertainment.
This decline in popularity, when combined with the deceleration of year-over-year growth in revenues for the MLB, proves to be a very harrowing sign for baseball fans around the country, as these two variables will play off of one another and their consequences will grow exponentially.
If they truly seek to combat their declining popularity and solidify their status as the premier baseball league in the world for the years to come, Major League Baseball needs to reflect and concoct a remedy to the issues that plague its minor league system today.
A strong minor league system is a necessary foundation for player development and delivering the most entertaining product to their audience. Thus, the minor league system should be bolstered, not torn down, as Major League Baseball is seemingly seeking to do, evidenced by the recent downsizing of MLB-affiliated minor league teams from 160 to 120 (Mayo).
The overarching goal of each franchise’s minor league system is not necessarily to generate a championship at each respective league, but to generate a championship at the major league level.
The minor league system allows for younger players to not be placed in an environment where they feel they need to succeed right away; instead, they will develop multi-year long training plans with their respective coaching staff in an effort to one day break into the MLB. The goal of each franchise’s farm system is to identify and develop the most talented prospects so that they will be ready to play at the major league level. This grueling, multi-year gauntlet of minor leagues which a prospect must ascend pits the best of the best against each other and assures that the league’s preeminent talents will rise to the top.
However, the magnitude of the challenges players face on the field pale in comparison to the true adversities and obstacles minor many leaguers must traverse: the difficult task of surviving on their extremely low wages. Former minor leaguer Caleb Joseph, in an interview with The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli, addressed such challenges:
“Finding a place to put your head at night is the hardest, most stressful thing to do as a minor leaguer … Why are we putting guys in a position where they can either afford food or a bed?” — Caleb Joseph
In their 2022 study published in the Journal of Athlete Development and Exercise, Christopher McLeod, Nola Agha, and Simon Rosenblaum-Larson further examined this issue by conducting a survey in order to ascertain exactly how minor league players could be better served by their organizations.
Out of the hundreds of minor leaguers surveyed, over 70% of responses ascribed wages as an unmet need, and almost 90% of respondents attested that ‘pay/salary/financial support’ would be on the top of the list of issues in which they would want addressed (McLeod et al. 205–206).
The issue of poor compensation amongst the minor leagues is abundantly clear, and in order to fully comprehend and ultimately mitigate this issue, a comprehensive understanding of the systems at play that perpetuate this injustice must be established.
Given that the insufficient compensation and overall treatment of minor league players is an inherently pressing concern that, presumably, should have a negative impact on the minor leagues’ ability to function, the question arises of how the minor leagues have continued to operate smoothly notwithstanding these issues for so long.
The answer to this question lies in the infamous antitrust exemption given to the MLB, which not only eliminates any incentive for MLB owners to compensate minor leagues fairly, but also acts as a roadblock impeding the alleviation of these issues.
In Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs (1922), the Supreme Court held that Sherman antitrust laws had no applications to the “business [of] giving exhibitions of baseball” because “the transport [between clubs from different cities and states] is a mere incident, not the essential thing.” Essentially, since the game (exhibition) itself takes place in a single location, SCOTUS deemed the league itself was not interstate commerce.
This decision, further upheld in Toolson v. New York Yankees (1953) and Flood v. Kuhn (1972), gave Major League Baseball a monopoly over the professional baseball market in America. However, such a monopoly removed the idea of a free market in terms of player compensation and placed the majority of the power solely in the hands of the MLB franchises. With no true domestic alternatives and the MLB’s ability to use such an exemption to deter one from forming, players are reluctantly yet inevitably fall victim to the minor league system and the myriad issues that plague it.
One main issue detrimentally impacting the minor league system which is enabled by the MLB’s antitrust exemption is the prevalence of the “Uniform Player Contract.” MiLB’s use of a “Uniform Player Contract”, requiring players to remain with their initial team for seven seasons, is a predatory practice that creates harsh working conditions and strips away many rights from players in the minor leagues.
Instead of having a free market where players can more fairly negotiate their wages or value, players are locked in long-term, unable to pursue any opportunity that might afford them more playing time or better wages. A player’s salary will only be paid during the championship season, meaning that they are only compensated for five months of the year regardless of the fact that baseball is a year-round job: Even when the championship season isn’t being played, players are required to attend Spring Training in late February as well as maintain their physical conditioning throughout the offseason.
If the player reaches the MLB, they are under further control by the same franchise for their first six seasons of MLB service time, meaning that players could spend up to thirteen years under contract with a single club before being able to hit the free market. The vocabulary used in this contract is strategic, choosing “six seasons” in comparison to “six years,” meaning that if a player is injured for an extended period of time, their timer will be paused until they have fully rehabbed and returned to game action.
Another key issue affecting the minor leagues similarly caused by the existence of the MLB’s antitrust exemption is the enabling of collusion amongst the owners of the thirty MLB franchises and the executives in the league offices themselves. Being that the MLB is a multi-billion dollar business, it is evident that many owners of MLB teams view the franchise as a cash cow, prioritizing seizing opportunities to reap profits over opportunities to bring their respective teams to victory.
That being said, there is widely-known collusion between the owners of the thirty MLB teams in an attempt to deflate salaries and the revenue share of players, mainly minor leaguers, in order to line their own pockets as well as those of their franchise. Such collusion has reascended into public light due to recent events, notably the spending spree financed by new New York Mets owner Steve Cohen.
After the franchise committed over $800 million dollars in free agency during the 2022 offseason, executives and owners of other MLB teams were angered by the new kid on the block’s spending spree:
“There’s no collusion. But… there was a reason nobody ever went past $300 million. You still have partners, and there’s a system,” an official with another MLB team told The Athletic (Drellich)
The Mets committing the entirety of this $800 million before Christmas represents a stark contrast to the ownership-dominated free agency of recent years, where signings were much later in the offseason. At the same time, Cohen’s willingness to grant hundred-million dollar contracts sets the precedent for the other franchises to open their pockets as well, much to the other owners’ dismay, as well as encourages players to seek a franchise which will pay them the value they believe they deserve.
The Mets committing the entirety of this $800 million* (see above) before Christmas represents a stark contrast to the ownership-dominated free agency of recent years, where signings were much later in the offseason. At the same time, Cohen’s willingness to grant hundred-million dollar contracts sets the precedent for the other franchises to open their pockets as well, much to the other owners’ dismay, as well as encourages players to seek a franchise which will pay them the value they believe they deserve.
The manner in which prospects experience their breakthrough into the MLB system depends on their nationality.
International amateurs, defined by the league as players who do not reside nor attend school in the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico, are allowed to sign with an MLB club upon reaching the age of sixteen.
Those who are amateur prospects in one of the three aforementioned countries may enter the MLB Draft either immediately upon graduating high school, upon completion of three years of college, or upon completion of any number of years of junior college. Regardless of the method of entrance, all prospects will have to endure the struggles that playing in the minor leagues for multiple years just for a chance of sniffing the major league roster.
In 2019, a premier prospect named Carter Stewart chose an unorthodox path upon embarking on his journey in professional baseball: After entering the MLB Draft and being selected with the eighth overall pick in 2018, he failed to agree to the terms of his contract with the Atlanta Braves in favor of signing with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Nippon Baseball League.
Receiving almost $6 million in guarantees with the ability to triple his earnings through various incentives (Nightengale), Stewart was able to be more properly compensated for his skills when signing as an amateur. Furthermore, joining a separate recognized professional baseball league will allow for him to join the MLB in as soon as six seasons as an international professional, receiving full free agent status. Stewart will be hitting free agency right before his prime years, generally considered to be 25 to 28.
In comparison, players who choose the domestic route by entering the MLB draft are subjected to a multi-year ascent through the minor leagues. Such an ascent is mandatory for nearly all prospects — Since the MLB Draft’s inception in 1965, only 23 players of the nearly 70,000 selected have made their major league debut in the same year that they were drafted (Catania).
Needing to spend multiple seasons in the minor leagues, it can be an extended period of time before a player reaches the MLB and can start working towards their six years of major league service time. Due to this required stint in the minor leagues, players must wait even longer before they can enter free agency and seek to acquire fair compensation for their market value.
In an attempt to illustrate the value discrepancies between the international and domestic routes to the MLB, I performed extensive research regarding MLB debutants during the 2022 season, in which 303 players made their MLB debut (baseball-reference).
To further isolate prospects similar to Stewart’s circumstances, I identified twenty-four debutants of similar backgrounds: premier U.S. high school prospects who were selected in the 1st round of the MLB Draft directly out of high school.
The average age of these debutants was 23 years and 3 months, meaning that under the assumption all of the debutants remain in the major leagues, they will fulfill their six-season service requirement and thus enter free agency on average around the age of 30 — well after their prime performance and 2–5 years later than if they had opted to play overseas like Stewart. Thus, Stewart and other prospects who might take this route will capture more value while potentially signing with an MLB team as a free agent.
While Stewart’s journey might be viewed as unorthodox now, as the issues in the minor league system continue to get worse and ignored by the MLB, such journey will be a very enticing alternative for elite American high school prospects as it ensures higher compensation both in the near and long-term, as well as the ability to retain more player rights.
The attractiveness to play in these Asian leagues should be of the utmost concern for the executives of Major League Baseball, as beginning to lose a grip on their monopoly of young American talent could have devastating impacts on the worldwide success of their league in the years to come.
The impending doom that the minor league system is facing should be extremely worrying for all parties involved. Smaller cities who are home to minor league teams have economies dependent on their team, and it provides an opportunity for the fans of the game to watch professional baseball for much cheaper than what an MLB ticket might cost. The owners, while basking in their profits now, stand to lose lots of money and player talent if they do not seek to correct these issues. While their antitrust exemption enables them to dominate the American market, the threat of international leagues is real.
Minor League Baseball players need a union to protect their rights, just as MLB players have through the Major League Baseball Players’ Association (MLBPA), in order to better fight for more livable wages, player rights, and better working conditions. Change needs to happen sooner rather than later, or professional baseball as we know it in the United States might be drastically and unfavorably different in the near future.
References
“2022 Major League Baseball New Debuts.” Baseball, https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2022-debuts.shtml
Catania, Jason. “Players to Go Straight from MLB Draft to the Show.” MLB.com, MLB, 14 Feb. 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/players-who-went-directly-from-the-draft-to-mlb
“The Chances of a Drafted Baseball Player Making the Major Leagues: A Quantitative Study.” Society for American Baseball Research, 20 Apr. 2017, https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-chances-of-a-drafted-baseball-player-making-the-major-leagues-a-quantitative-study/
Drellich, Evan. “Steve Cohen’s Mets Spending Spree and the Ramifications for the Rest of the League.” The Athletic, https://theathletic.com/4026971/2022/12/22/mets-steve-cohen-spending/
Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, 259 U.S. 200 (1922). Supreme Court of the United States, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/259/200/
Ghiroli, Brittany. “Minor Leaguers: Meager Living Conditions ‘Most Stressful’ Part of Low-Paying Job.” The Athletic, The Athletic, 5 Aug. 2021, https://theathletic.com/news/minor-leaguers-meager-living-conditions-most-stressful-part-of-low-paying-job/3QPQEa8vBLiK/
Hayhurst, Dirk. “An inside Look into the Harsh Conditions of Minor League Baseball.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 3 Oct. 2017, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2062307-an-inside-look-into-the-harsh-conditions-of-minor-league-baseball
Mayo, Jonathan. “Minors Return with New Look, Structure.” MLB.com, MLB, 14 Feb. 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/new-minor-league-baseball-structure#:~:text=There%20will%20be%20a%20new,percent%20for%20the%202021%20season
Nightengale, Bob. “Agent Scott Boras Criticizes MLB as Amateur Prospect Carter Stewart Skips Draft for Japan.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 23 May 2019, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2019/05/23/mlb-draft-scott-boras-carter-stewart-japan/1203871001/
“Organizational Support Factors for Minor League Baseball Player Development.” Journal of Athlete Development and Experience, Bowling Green State University, Nov. 2022, https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1161&context=jade
Poindexter, Owen. “Minor Leaguers Could Soon Join MLBPA Union.” Front Office Sports, 29 Aug. 2022, https://frontofficesports.com/minor-leaguers-could-soon-join-mlbpa-union/
