Major League Baseball has proposed major changes to its amateur player acquisition system during collective bargaining talks with the MLB Players Association. The proposals include separate domestic and international drafts with new eligibility rules and a hard $200 million signing bonus pool for each.
The proposals were extended on Thursday in the latest bargaining meeting. They call for a hard-slotted 12-round draft structure, trading limits on selections, and mandatory medical evaluations at a combine. High school players would no longer be eligible for the domestic draft, while college players could be selected one year earlier.
MLB stated that the changes aim to strengthen college baseball and address issues in the international system such as verbal agreements and performance-enhancing substances. International players would need to be 18 by Sept. 1 of their draft year, with an expanded scouting league and combine also proposed.
The MLB Players Association responded that the proposals would eliminate over a billion dollars in player compensation over five years and bar players under age 20 from the domestic draft. The union said the league's ideas fall woefully short and pledged to continue bargaining in good faith.
The current collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1.