NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball owners dropped a major proposal on the table Thursday, calling for an end to high school players signing directly with big league clubs, a higher minimum age for international amateur signings, and a sharp reduction in signing bonus money — all part of ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.
Under the plan presented during a bargaining session with the players’ association, the amateur draft covering players from the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico would shrink from 20 rounds down to 12 rounds, starting in 2027. MLB also proposed launching an equivalent 12-round draft for international prospects — a concept the union has turned down before.
Beginning in 2028, any player entering the amateur draft would need to be at least 20 years old by September 1 of the year they sign and must be at least two years past their high school graduation year. That requirement would also block players who had only completed one year of junior college.
Since the amateur draft launched in 1965, high school players have been allowed to participate alongside college players who are in or have just completed their junior year.
Pushing back the signing age would likely mean players are older by the time they become free agents, a status that currently requires six years of major league service time.
MLB pointed to rising revenue in college baseball as one of its main reasons for the proposal. The league also noted that 75% of high school players signed between 2012 and 2019 never made it to the majors.
In a statement, MLB said: “Expanded scholarships, NIL opportunities, revenue sharing and significant investments in facilities and player development have made college baseball an increasingly important pathway that is producing major league-ready talent at an accelerated rate. By creating a draft system centered around college-aged players and making most college players eligible one year earlier, more players will benefit from both a college education and an elite development environment while reaching professional baseball — and ultimately the major leagues — more quickly.”
MLB also stated it will not seek to reduce the 120 minor league teams operating across the top four levels when it renegotiates professional development licenses in 2030, replacing deals set to expire after a decade.
For international amateur players, the minimum signing age would climb to 18 by September 1 of their signing year, up from the current threshold of 17.
Each of the two separate drafts would have a $200 million signing pool in 2027, with hard caps in place for both.
Teams would be permitted to trade draft picks under the proposal, though a club could not trade its first-round pick in back-to-back drafts. Teams also could not pick up more than three additional selections within the first three rounds.
Signing bonuses paid out to players eligible for the 2025 amateur draft came to roughly $402 million, and signing bonus pools for 2026 went up by 2.5%.
The proposal would give every team the same amount to spend — a significant departure from the current system, which awards larger pools to teams that finished with worse records the previous season. Under the current setup, Pittsburgh holds just over $19 million this year while the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers have slightly under $4 million. Teams currently have the option to exceed their pool limits and frequently do so by as much as 5%.
Teams have spent approximately $193 million in signing bonuses for international amateurs in 2026. The current international signing period runs from January 15 to December 15 each year, but the first international draft under the new proposal would take place no earlier than September 2027 and no later than March 2028.
MLB’s proposal also calls for eliminating competitive balance round picks that were introduced in 2023 and scaling back the draft lottery — also launched in 2023 — from the top six picks to just four.
Formal bargaining between the two sides began on May 13, with initial proposals exchanged two weeks later. Among management’s early proposals was a salary cap — the first time that idea has been floated since 1994, when it triggered a 7.5-month player strike and resulted in the first World Series cancellation in 90 years.
