The latest round of collective bargaining negotiations between Major League Baseball and the players’ union includes a significant new proposal. MLB is pushing for an international draft, according to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, marking another attempt to reshape how the sport finds talent outside the United States.
The league’s original ask in these talks was a salary cap. That went nowhere. The players’ union wasn’t interested. So now they’re trying a different angle.
What the proposal looks like
Right now, MLB uses an international amateur free agency system. Teams can sign players who are 16 or older and born outside the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Each team works within a hard bonus pool, but there’s no draft. Players pick their team basically the same way free agents do, just with stricter rules and way smaller money.
The new proposal would change that. The draft would be for players who are at least 18, instead of 16. It would have 12 hard-slot rounds with a total signing bonus pool of $200 million for 360 amateur players. Gonzalez reports this is a shift from the last CBA talks, when MLB proposed a 20-round draft with a pool of just $191 million. Fewer rounds now, same cash pool then. The numbers are moving around but the idea is the same.
Undrafted players under this plan could sign for a maximum of $10,000 each, plus a $30,000 bonus once they reach a full-season minor league affiliate. That’s not a lot in the grand scheme of baseball money, but it’s something.
Timing and the age thing
The first draft wouldn’t happen until sometime between fall 2027 and early 2028. Players would need to turn 18 no later than Sept. 1, 2028. After that, the cutoff is Sept. 1 of each draft year.
Here’s the thing about the current system: that age restriction is basically a suggestion. Teams and players make deals early all the time. They shake hands when a kid is 15 and sign the paperwork when he turns 16. Everyone knows it happens. The new draft proposal would put a stop to those backroom handshake agreements.
It’s not the first time MLB has tried this. The league floated a similar idea during the last round of CBA talks and got nowhere. The union has historically opposed a draft because it limits players’ ability to negotiate and pick their landing spot. International prospects often rely on relationships with specific organizations that have long scouted their regions. A draft would break that connection.
MLB is betting that a smaller age requirement, more total money and a cleaner system will make the union change its mind. We’ll see. These negotiations have a way of dragging out, and nothing gets finalized until everything does.
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