Where things stand on an International Draft

In advance of voting in agreement on other issues in the Collective Bargaining Agreement on Thursday, Major League Baseball’s owners and the MLB Players Association agreed that they have until July 25 to make a final decision as to whether an International Draft will replace the current international signing system in 2024.

MLB had proposed instituting the International Draft, which it pursued, in exchange for dropping free-agent Draft pick compensation, which the union pursued. If, by July 25, the International Draft is adopted, free-agent Draft pick compensation will be abolished, beginning with the 2022-23 offseason. If the International Draft is a no-go, the current international signing system and the current free-agent Draft pick compensation rules (which include the qualifying offer) will remain in place.

The two sides have not yet set a date to renew discussions about the International Draft, but that process is expected to take place soon.

Per a source, MLB, in its most recent proposal to the union, increased the guaranteed money attached to each slot in the proposed Draft by 5 percent and pushed back the proposed start to the Draft from the 2023 signing period to 2024.

The Draft, which would be separate from the stateside amateur Draft, is MLB’s proposed solution to abuses in the current international market, where players from outside the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico are acquired by the 30 clubs.

Though players are not eligible to sign prior to the age of 16, under-the-table deals with players as young as 12 years old have been known to take place, and the environment of early deals has encouraged performance-enhancing drug use at young ages.

The Draft proposal has the support of members of the MLB Trainer Partnership programs in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, as well as former All-Stars Bob Abreu and Carlos Guillén, who run their own baseball academies.

“Ten years ago, players were able to have a good market when they were 15 or 16 years old,” Adolfo Burgos, who runs Academia Internacional de Baseball in Santiago, D.R., said through an interpreter. “Now that has shifted to the point where I have had to say to 14-year-old players, ‘There’s no market for you.’ Some of the best offers for 15- or 16-year-olds now are for [only] $10,000.”

Specifics of the proposal include:

• A 20-round Draft with more than 600 selections (regular picks, plus competitive balance selections), which are guaranteed because clubs cannot pass on its selections.

• Each slot in the Draft would also carry a guaranteed signing bonus amount (the first pick would be worth $5.5 million). This would ensure more money, in aggregate, to the 600 Draft picks than was spent on more than 1,000 international players in the last full signing period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Additionally, there would be no limit on the number of players who could sign, if they were not selected in the Draft. Thus, the Draft should not affect the total number of players signed -- and players who were not selected in the Draft could sign for more money than they are receiving in the current system.

• All told, between players who are selected and those who sign after they are not selected, more than $22 million of additional spending on international players is expected in this new system.

• The signing age -- and the countries from which international players could sign -- would remain the same.

• All players would be subject to mandatory drug testing.

• Each club would be randomly assigned to a group of six clubs, and each group would then rotate through Draft order over a five-year period. So the Draft order would not be tied to team record. Rather, clubs would have equal access to international talent over the life of the CBA.

• Draft picks could be traded between clubs.

• A signing deadline would be three weeks after the Draft.

• In an effort to grow the game, clubs would receive supplemental selections for drafting and signing players from non-traditional international baseball countries.

Eliminating Draft pick compensation would be no small change. The 50-day players’ strike that disrupted the 1981 season (the year in which the season had to be split into two distinct halves) revolved around the issue of compensation to clubs that lose a free agent. Some form of free-agent compensation has been a part of every CBA since 1976. Since 2012, Draft pick compensation has been tied to the qualifying offer. Teams only surrender a Draft pick for signing free agents that received and rejected the qualifying offer from their former clubs.

Players view Draft pick compensation as a restriction on their free-agent earning power. MLB views the International Draft as a means of making the international market more transparent. The two sides have until July 25 to determine if their respective desires are worth making a trade.