Photo by Ed Delany
MLB has proposed an international draft in CBA negotiations, according to an article by Anthony Castrovince of MLB.
The draft would be in place of the current signing system, which, as outlined by Castrovince, has Latin American kids making verbal commitments to baseball organizations as young as 12 to 14 years old. The minimum age for an international player to sign is 16, but kids are scouted at unnaturally young ages under the current system.
“The pressure to impress at a young age has led to increased use of performance-enhancing drugs,” Castrovince wrote. “And with no leverage to walk away from an offer and attend college, players often sell themselves short in order to lock in a commitment.”
MLB reportedly believes an international draft would solve these issues. As Castrovince pointed out, a soft salary cap was put in place in 2012, but it hasn’t prevented younger players from making verbal commitments at young ages.
“The international draft would have more fairly allocated talent among the clubs and reduced abuses in some international markets,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said.
The draft would consist of 20 rounds, encompassing more than 600 selections. Similar to the MLB draft, it would include competitive balance picks. Each slot would hold a guaranteed signing bonus, starting at $5.25 million with the first pick.
Signing international players wouldn’t go away entirely, tough. There would be no limit on the amount of players that could sign, so players who aren’t drafted could sign for more than they would make in the current system.
Castrovince’s article laid out a number of other rules regarding the proposed draft, including the ability to trade draft picks and a signing deadline three weeks after the draft.
One of the major motivating factors of this proposal is the increase in PED use to gain competitive advantages at early ages.
A former minor league outfielder who is now a trainer in MLB’s Trainer Partnership Program, referred to as Nina in Castrovince’s article, said this: “Before, I did not want the draft, to be honest with you. But now, with the way the system is, the only goal is to have the draft.”
It will be interesting to see if this accelerates talks between the two sides at all, as well as more details of what the draft would look like if it were to come to fruition.
