Amid contentious negotiations between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association, the league has reportedly proposed sweeping changes to the sport's draft, including the elimination of high school athletes from the event.
According to ESPN, the draft itself would be significantly reduced, while the league would also hold a formal draft for international players.
Baseball America's J.J. Cooper initially reported the proposal. With high school players eliminated, the earliest that players would be eligible for the MLB Draft would be following their sophomore year of college.
That could have a major impact on how players enter the league. Star players like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado made their debuts when they were just 19.
ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that the proposal, which was made at a collective bargaining meeting with the MLB Players Association on Thursday, would shorten the domestic draft from 20 to 12 hard-slotted rounds and the amateur signing bonus pool would nearly halved to $200 million.
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 MLB and MLB Players Association are on the cusp of negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, which expires Dec. 1. The MLB pushing for a salary cap. The players association has balked at the implementation of a salary cap.
"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," the MLBPA said in a statement.
ESPN reported the following key elements of the MLB's proposal:
• A minimum draft age of 20 for domestic players and raising the minimum age for international players from 16 to 18;
• The ability to trade all draft picks, but only for the following draft -- 2028 picks could not be dealt until the end of the 2027 draft -- with no dealing of back-to-back first-round choices;
• A maximum signing bonus of $10,000 for undrafted players -- with international players who make a full-season minor league affiliate receiving a $30,000 bonus and domestic players receiving a $30,000 bonus if teams want to remove them from eligibility for the Rule 5 draft after their second season;
• The reduction in the draft lottery from six picks to four;
• The elimination of competitive-balance picks, currently awarded annually to lower-revenue and smaller-market teams.
