Phillies’ Andrew McCutchen first MLB player to support MiLB campaign

Unionizing and improving Minor League Baseball is long overdue

Many minor leaguers are forced to work multiple jobs to support their underpaying dream. So many are forced to give up their dream, not because they aren’t good enough, but because MLB has decided that they aren’t worth a living wage, and they want to live.

With their showing on Saturday, the minor-leaguers involved issued a statement to The Athletic:

“Minor League baseball players have been severely underpaid and silenced for decades. Today, we are wearing #FairBall wristbands to show our solidarity with every fan and ally who is working to change that. We love the game of baseball, but it needs to evolve. It is time for every Minor Leaguer to be paid a living wage.”

The basics of minor-leaguer mistreatment are as follows:

• They are only paid in-season. Not for Spring Training or offseason, though they are expected to stay in playing shape. This is hard to do considering most have to take on at least one job in order to make ends meet, since they are only paid for about five months out of the year.
• The few players in the first rounds of the draft are lucky to secure hefty signing bonuses, but most minor-leaguers make between $10,000-$15,000/year before taxes. The 2021 Federal Poverty line for a single person is $12,880, which means hundreds of prospects are living in poverty.
• Minor leaguers often resort to sleeping in their cars, team clubhouses, or cramming as many teammates as they can into one or two-bedroom rentals where they sleep on air mattresses. I personally know several former prospects who have done each of these things.

How can MLB improve minor-league conditions?

While individuals with small platforms can affect change, the most drastic, sweeping change is made by those in power. Minor league baseball players need a union and minimum wage (they are currently exempt), to start. There has been no public progress towards rectifying either of these issues.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest changes MLB has made concerning the minor leagues was to cut over 40 affiliates over the last year. Throughout the process, their claim was that by winnowing down the number of affiliations, there would be more money allocated to the remaining teams, their facilities, and prospects.

Of course, every MLB team is valued at over a billion dollars, and this ordeal was wholly unnecessary. Even with the “raises” that prospects such as the ones who donned the bracelets on Saturday received after other teams lost their affiliation, their salaries for the year after raises will amount to less than $12,000. So, while MLB owners sit atop piles of cash, the players who are supposed to be the future of their ballclub are literally living in poverty.

The Phillies take better care of their MiLB affiliates than most franchises

The Phillies are actually one of the only franchises that takes care of its prospects, though they could certainly do more. They provide housing stipends from Low-A level up, as well as salary for extended Spring Training; as of late June, they were the only NL East franchise compensating their players for extended Spring Training.

The Mets do none of these things. Instead, they actually actively work to widen the gap between big-leaguers and prospects, which is shameful. During the first height of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, they cut 39 minor leaguers rather than pay them their stipends. The MiLB season had already been canceled, so they really had nowhere else to go.

If you consider yourself a baseball fan but don’t think minor leaguers deserve better from the billionaire ball clubs that employ them, ask yourself why. Steve Cohen had $2.42 billion to buy the Mets – a new MLB record, by the way – but doesn’t have the money to pay prospects for extended spring training or housing. That doesn’t add up; it’s a choice that he and every other owner makes.

If you think what major-leaguers do every game is impressive – throwing gas, hitting home runs, stealing bases, etc. – think about how minor-leaguers do all of those things after a night of sleeping in their car or on a floor somewhere, likely without adequate nutrition or any of the fancy treatments big-leaguers get from the world-class training staff. Imagine how many prospects would develop into big-leaguers faster if they were able to focus on honing their craft, not on how to make ends meet.

The argument many supposed baseball fans make is that minor leaguers choose to work in these conditions for nominal pay. Technically, this is true. But for one thing, it is appalling and unacceptable that compensation is so low, regardless of if the players accept it or not. Moreover, if you had the natural talent to play the game you claim to be a fan of, you’d probably want to see if you could live out your dream, too.

MLB and MiLB are like a couple in an unhealthy relationship. One side holds all the power, manipulating and hurting the weaker side, which is trapped out of a mixture of love and necessity. The power balance needs to shift.

McCutchen is only one man. But he’s a big-leaguer, and his platform is bigger than any minor leaguer’s. Sunday Night Baseball is averaging 1.61 million viewers, and they all saw Cutch’s new statement piece.

Hopefully, he is only the first of many Major Leaguers to take up the cause.