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Zack Showalter (13) celebrates with catcher Maikel Hernandez (37) after the final out of an MiLB Florida State League baseball game against the Jupiter Hammerheads on May 7, 2024 at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. (Mike Janes/Four Seam Images)
When Major League Baseball began operating the minor leagues in 2021, it ushered in a new era for players.
Even before MLB and the newly-formed minor league division of the MLB Players Association reached a deal on the first-ever minor league collective bargaining agreement in 2023, pay and standards of living had improved.
Once the CBA arrived, the transformation was complete.
Players who remained after the minor leagues were scaled back and reorganized are now experiencing the best working conditions any minor league player has ever experienced.
Food? Two meals a day are now provided, and nutritious snacks and protein powder are also available whenever players are at the ballpark.
Weight rooms? Upgraded.
Batting cages? Covered and upgraded.
Stadium lighting? Improved.
Salaries? Year-round, and at the highest level in minor league history.
This does not mean that minor league players are living the easy life. It’s a pressure-packed job in which success or failure is apparent to thousands of fans every time they step on a field. The pressure to perform is even more intense now, because stricter player limits require players to justify their roster spots like never before.
For players who didn’t receive a large signing bonus, salaries are still modest, but even those are dramatically improved from where they were five years ago. And players no longer face the decisions that tormented them in past decades.
Today, players can focus on playing their best, instead of figuring out whether they can afford to keep playing.
No longer do players have to rely on a spouse’s salary, family help or an offseason job to figure out how to earn enough in the offseason to support their main job: playing professional baseball.
No longer does getting married or having a child create a decision point on whether a player can continue to pursue his dream of a big league career.
“The old system was pay-to-play,” said Chris Betts, a catcher who spent 2016 to 2022 in the minors.
There have been tradeoffs. Significantly fewer players get a chance to play in affiliated baseball. As part of the minor league CBA, major league organizations may have 165 active players on domestic minor league…