Recently, Major League Baseball has been suggesting changes to its annual draft including alterations in the way it views international signings.

While yet to be approved by the player's association representatives, these changes would significantly alter the way the game treats international signees.

Details follow:International amateur proposal by MLB

MLB cited a number of what it called “persistent issues” in the current international system in proposing the installation of an International Draft.

The proliferation of unenforceable verbal agreements years before players are actually eligible to sign has resulted in players often leaving school at young ages to train full-time away from home. There has also been an increasing use of performance-enhancing substances, a disconnect between the highest signing bonuses and ultimate player success, and the market for older – or eligible – players is limited.

“It is long past time to reform the international amateur system in ways that would address longstanding challenges and benefit future players,” the league said. “The enhanced transparency of the International Draft that we are proposing is a common-sense step forward that best addresses the root causes of corruption in the current system.

“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.”

Only 6 percent of international signings currently reach the Majors, while 44 percent of international players signed are released within three years. Per MLB, 83 percent of international signing bonuses go to players who did not reach the Majors, while more than 1,000 international players are released every year.

There are four key pillars to MLB’s international proposal:

Creating playing opportunities for both elite and non-elite players

MLB would expand its existing Amateur Scouting League into a scouting and development league for top Draft-eligible players each year. Players would receive housing, meals, a stipend and educational programs.

The league would also introduce an International Scouting & Medical Combine for the top 300 international prospects each year with a similar format to the existing MLB Draft Combine, which is in its sixth year.

Under the proposal, MLB will also provide continued playing and development opportunities for players over the age of 18 who do not sign during their first year of Draft eligibility. MLB will also collaborate with governments, federations, independent trainers and other baseball programs to expand baseball opportunities in players’ hometowns, allowing them to remain in school while pursuing baseball careers.

Raising the signing age by one year for all international players

Under the proposal, players would have to turn 18 by Sept. 1 of their Draft year (currently, players must be 17 by Sept. 1 of the year they sign).

This change would allow players to stay in school while pursuing a career in baseball while reducing the pressure on teenagers to show big-league potential before they are fully developed. According to a recent MLB survey of signed international players, 62 percent were 14 or younger when they stopped attending school.

Raising the minimum age would allow the most talented players to receive the most money following a more thorough development and evaluation process, while reducing the incentive of what the league called “unscrupulous adults” to use PEDs to turn young children into attractive prospects.

Implementation of an International Draft

An International Draft would preserve the same overall market of players who compete against each other in today’s international system, with no new countries being introduced.

The first Draft would maintain the current level of spending on international players – $200 million in the first year, equal to the signing bonus pool MLB is proposing for the separate Draft for players from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

A hard-slotted system would create transparency in the signing process, eliminating the practice of “handshake” agreements between teams and players. MLB also believes a Draft would result in “a fairer process,” with players being selected based on talent and merit at an appropriate age rather than on personal relationships between trainers and clubs when players are pre-teens.

Protections and regulations

As part of the proposal, MLB would work with the Dominican government, independent trainers and the MLBPA to establish the following protections and safeguards for players training in the Dominican Republic:

• Establishment of a code of conduct for independent trainers with appropriate penalties for violations
• Prohibiting any individual or firm from purchasing an interest in a player’s future signing bonus or salary, or loaning a player or his family money with the player’s future signing bonus or compensation as collateral
• Implementation of a lifetime ban from the baseball industry, and criminal penalties, for any person who provides performance-enhancing substances to a player
• A requirement that players who reside in an independent trainer academy prior to age 18 must remain enrolled in an education program approved by the Ministry of Education

MLBPA response

In response to MLB's proposals, the Major League Baseball Players Association issued the following statement:

Today, 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. They would, among other things:

• Eliminate over a billion dollars in player compensation from the international and domestic system over the next five years, with a $400 million reduction from 2026 to 2027 alone.
• Destroy fundamental player rights and remove talent from our sport by barring high school and junior college players (anyone under age 20) from the domestic draft.
• Abolish an entire year of international signings by delaying the first draft until at least September of 2027 (and as late as March of 2028), denying young international players the ability to start their professional careers.

Players remain committed to bargaining in good faith and leaving baseball better than they found it – the league’s proposals fall woefully short.