AP Exclusive: MLB raises salaries for minor-leaguers
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball is raising the minimum salary for minor-league players in 2021, according to a memo sent Friday from the commissioner’s office to all 30 teams and obtained by The Associated Press.
Two years after successfully lobbying Congress to exempt minor-leaguers from federal minimum wage laws, MLB opted to give those players a wage increase between 38% and 72%. The bump was discussed at last week’s owners meetings and confirmed in the memo from Morgan Sword, executive vice president of baseball economics and operations.
Players at rookie and short-season levels will see their minimum weekly pay raised from $290 to $400, and players at Class A will go from $290 to $500. Double-A will jump from $350 to $600, and Triple-A from $502 to $700.
Minor-leaguers are paid only during the five-month season and don’t receive wages during the offseason or spring training.
“Much deserved,” tweeted Ben Verlander, who pitched five minor-league seasons and is the younger brother of Astros star Justin. “We’d put in 12 hours a day at the baseball field and all we ask for in return is a livable wage. Love this”
The raises come as MLB is negotiating with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the governing body of the minors, to replace the Professional
Baseball Agreement that expires after the 2020 seasons. MLB proposed cutting 42 of the 160 required affiliated teams during those negotiations, a plan criticized by smalltown fans and politicians at the local and national level.
“MLB’s priorities include reducing the travel burden on players and improving player working conditions,” Sword wrote. “These and other objectives only can be achieved with agreement of the National Association, or absent an agreement, following the expiration of the current PBA in September. However, we can move forward unilaterally with our goal of improving compensation for minor-league players.”
The most talented players frequently get hundreds of thousands — even millions — of dollars in signing bonuses, but there are also players who sign for as little as $1,000. The financial burden has prompted some players to use tattered equipment, accept charity from more fortunate teammates, or in the case of one player, to live out of a school bus.
Said major league players’ union head Tony Clark: “It’s a start, but there’s a long way to go before these young players are being compensated and treated fairly.”
The major-league minimum is $563,500 this year, and the top players make over $30 million annually. For players on 40-man rosters on option to the minors, the minimum is $46,000 this season.
A group of minor-leaguers filed a lawsuit against major-league teams in February 2014, claiming most earned less than $7,500 annually in violation of several laws. While the case has not yet gone to trial, Congress passed legislation stripping minor-league players from protection under minimum wage laws. Congress put the “Save America’s Pastime Act” onto page 1,967 of a $1.3 trillion spending bill in 2018 at MLB’s urging.
Minor-league salaries have largely been stagnant since 2005, and players have strained to make ends meet on as little as $5,500 per season. Some players live in overcrowded apartments, sleeping on air mattresses, subsisted on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and sacrificed potential training hours to work better-paying jobs in the offseason.
Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski spent six full seasons in the minors and 40 games last year before his promotion by San Francisco.
“I think for a long time we’ve had this idea in baseball that you have to put in your time. To an extent that may be true, but we need to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to make themselves better,” he said. “I think it’s really hard to be focused on other things in the offseason when guys have a significant advantage because they don’t have to go work 30 hours a week or 40 hours a week to try and keep up just with regular life.”