Sources: MLB proposes amateur-entry overhaul
Key takeaways
- The international draft, which would cover all amateur players outside of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, would also be 12 rounds with a $200 million bonus pool, sources told ESPN.
- The amateur-entry plan comes after MLB's initial proposal to institute a salary cap system to govern the game.
- They chafed likewise Thursday at MLB's amateur proposal, saying players would lose $1 billion over the course of the next five years compared to the current system.
Why this matters: a sports story that could shift standings, legacies, or fan conversations.
Major League Baseball proposed widespread changes to its amateur-entry system that would cut annual signing bonuses by more than $150 million annually, make high school players ineligible for the domestic draft and institute an international draft, sources told ESPN.
The proposal, made at a collective bargaining meeting with the MLB Players Association on Thursday, called for the domestic draft to be shortened from 20 to 12 hard-slotted rounds and the amateur signing bonus pool to be nearly halved to $200 million, according to sources.
The international draft, which would cover all amateur players outside of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, would also be 12 rounds with a $200 million bonus pool, sources told ESPN.