AP exclusive: Average salary up 11% year after lockout

A year removed from a labor lockout that postponed opening day, major league players are enjoying their biggest salary spike in more than two decades.

The average Major League Baseball salary was up 11.1% to a record $4.9 million to start this season, the largest jump for the sport since 2001, according to a study by The Associated Press.

The surge follows a spending spree in the first offseason since players and owners agreed to a five-year collective bargaining agreement last March.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Texas Rangers shortstop Marcus Semien, part of the union’s eight-member executive subcommittee who helped negotiate the CBA.

The New York Mets led the way with a $355 million payroll, $70 million more than the previous high for a season’s start. Seven teams topped $200 million.

Oakland was last at $58 million — less than the combined salaries of Mets pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who tied for the major league high of $43.3 million.

This year’s percentage rise was the largest since a 13.9% jump in 2001.

“It’s about damn time, honestly,” said Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Zach Eflin, who signed a $40 million, three-year deal in December. “It’s been pretty much a joke the past five, 10 years about the way the players have been paid the minimum salaries.”

Aaron Judge, Manny Machado, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa and Jacob degrom all got big deals during an offseason that saw the average shatter the previous high of $4.45 million in 2017.

“Teams are making money, players are making it. So it’s good all around,” said degrom, who left the Mets for Texas.

Of 943 players in the major leagues on opening day, 546 had salaries of $1 million or more, 58%, and up from 514 last year.

“The stance that we took was great, getting players to be paid more is what we want,” Correa said. “Obviously, we bring a lot to this game. But at the same time us as players have to keep putting up the work, making sure that after we get contracts, we keep performing to the highest level for teams to keep spending and keep going big.”

Judge was third at $40 million after hitting an American League-record 62 homers. Seven of 11 highest-paid players are with teams in New York or Los Angeles, a sign of the economic power of the large markets.

“I saw the revenue numbers for the game last year,” said Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, also a member of the players’ association’s executive subcommittee during negotiations. “So when those continue to go up, then players salaries should go up with that, as well.”