FACT SHEET: A NEW VISION FOR INTERNATIONAL PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

Persistent Issues in the Current System

  • Unenforceable verbal agreements with players years before they are eligible to sign
  • Players leaving school at young ages to train full-time away from home
  • Increasing use of performance-enhancing substances
  • High churn of players with little chance of reaching Major Leagues
  • The highest signing bonuses are not going to the best players
  • Limited market for older (“eligible”) players

Major League Baseball released the following statement today regarding Collective Bargaining:
“It is long past time to reform the international amateur system in ways that would address longstanding challenges and benefit future players. The enhanced transparency of the International Draft that we are proposing is a common-sense step forward that best addresses the root causes of corruption in the current system. Our vision for the new international system reduces the pressure on young athletes by giving them the chance to grow and develop, keeps kids in school longer while they pursue a career in baseball, and creates more playing opportunities for the older players who are left behind in today’s system.”

MLB’s Proposed Pillars for Change

1. Raising the Signing Age by One Year for All International Players

  • Players must be 18 by September 1 of their draft year (currently, players must be 17 by September 1 of the year they sign).
  • Will allow players to stay in school while pursuing a career in baseball.
    • 62% of players were 14 or younger when they stopped attending school
  • Will reduce the pressure on teenagers to show Major League potential before they are fully developed.
  • Will reduce player churn (i.e., the practice of signing and releasing large numbers of players each year) by allowing Clubs to better evaluate players prior to signing.
    • Only 6% of international signings reach the Major Leagues – 44% of all internationally signed players are released within 3 years
    • Over 1,000 international players are released every year
  • Will allow the most talented players to receive the most money following a more thorough development and evaluation process.
    • 83% of signing bonuses went to players who did not reach the Major Leagues.
  • Will reduce the incentive of unscrupulous adults to use PED’s to turn young children into attractive prospects.
    • The rate of positive PED tests among 13–14-year-old players continue to rise

2. Creating Playing Opportunities for both Elite and Non-Elite Players

  • Expand MLB’s existing Amateur Scouting League into a scouting and development league for top draft-eligible players each year. Players would receive housing, meals, a stipend, and educational programs.
  • Introduce an International Scouting & Medical Combine for the top 300 international prospects each year with a similar format to the MLB Draft Combine for domestic players, which is entering its sixth year.
  • Provide continued playing and development opportunities for players over the age of 18 who do not sign during their first year of draft eligibility.
  • Collaborate with governments, federations, independent trainers, and other baseball programs to expand baseball opportunities in players’ hometowns, which would allow the players to remain in school while pursuing careers in baseball.

3. Implementation of an International Draft

  • Preserves the same overall market of players who compete against each other in today’s international system (that is, no new countries introduced).
  • Maintains the current level of spending on international players at $200 million in the first draft, which is equal to the signing bonus pool that MLB is proposing for the separate draft for players from the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
  • Creates transparency in the signing process through a hard-slotted system which eliminates the practice of “handshake” agreements between Clubs and players.
  • Results in a fairer process: players are selected based on talent and merit at an appropriate age, rather than on personal relationships between trainers and Clubs when players are pre-teens.
  • The proposed draft would be 12 rounds (360 selections) with unlimited “passed over player” signings.
  • All international draft selections could be traded with certain limitations.

4. Protections and Regulation

  • MLB will work with the Dominican government, the independent trainers and the MLBPA to establish the following protections and safeguards for players training in the Dominican Republic.
    • Establishment of a code of conduct for independent trainers with appropriate penalties for violations.
    • Prohibiting any individual or firm from purchasing an interest in the player’s future signing bonus or salary, or loaning a player or his family or money with the player’s future signing bonus or compensation as collateral.
    • Implementation of a lifetime ban from the baseball industry, and criminal penalties, for any person who provides performance enhancing substances to a player.
    • A requirement that players who reside in an independent trainer academy prior to age 18 must remain enrolled in an education program approved by the Ministry of Education.

FACT SHEETS

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