Major League Baseball has faced increased scrutiny in recent years regarding the relatively poor wages paid to minor league players.
Speaking at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles on Tuesday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred disputed the notion that prospects don’t receive fair pay. But his response was met with fierce blowback.
“I kind of reject the premise of the question, that minor league players are not paid a living wage,” Manfred told reporters, per Baseball America. “I think that we’ve made real strides in the last few years in terms of what minor league players are paid. Even putting to one side the signing bonuses that many of them have received, they’ve received housing, which is obviously another form of compensation. So I just reject the premise of the question.”
That answer likely comes across as tone-deaf to many observers—even though MLB began providing housing for prospects this season. After all, minor leaguers earn anywhere from $4,800 per year in rookie ball to approximately $14,000 annually in Triple-A, according to The Washington Post.
The group Advocates for Minor Leaguers took particular exception to Manfred’s comment, issuing the following statement in response.
“Most Minor League baseball players work second jobs because their annual salaries are insufficient to make ends meet,” the group posted on Twitter. “The commissioner makes an annual salary of $17.5 million. His suggestion that Minor League pay is acceptable is both callous and false.”
Manfred’s comment comes at a time when the bipartisan U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is asking Manfred to justify why baseball’s coveted antitrust exemption should be allowed to cover the minor leagues. Additionally, MLB agreed to pay minor leaguers $185 million in regard to alleged violations of minimum wage laws in a proposed lawsuit settlement filed last week in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
Expect Manfred to face more tough questions about minor league salaries in the coming months—from the media and lawmakers.
