One Response to MLB Plan: 'Let's Just Kill the Game'

Major League Baseball's owners on Thursday pitched a sweeping draft shakeup that would prohibit signing high school seniors, institute an international selection process, and dramatically cut the signing bonus pool for players going through the customary, US-based draft. In a proposal to the Players Association as part of collective bargaining agreement negotiations, MLB called for barring players from being drafted straight out of high school starting in 2028, instead requiring they be at least 20 by Sept. 1 of their draft year and two years removed from graduation. The multifaceted proposal was not an immediate hit. A veteran agent called it "the most absurd thing I've ever heard in my life," USA Today reports. An MLB scouting director responded with, "Let's just kill the game."

The domestic draft would shrink from 20 to 12 rounds, and its bonus pool would drop from about $359 million to $200 million; a separate 12-round international draft with a $200 million pool would launch. The union is widely expected to reject the plan. MLB argues the changes would push prospects toward college, which it calls an increasingly powerful development pipeline, and would make most college players draft-eligible a year earlier. Detractors see something very different: a cost-cutting move that hurts US amateurs and shifts development to programs focused on winning, not player growth. One scouting director said college baseball "is not set up for development"; agent Scott Boras warned the plan would steer top athletes to other sports.

• Owners' statement, per EPSN: "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."
• Union's statement, per the AP: "MLB made another set of proposals that are flat-out bad for baseball, ones that would cripple the next generation of players and damage the future of our game."