Simon Juan, Mets Top International Free Agent Signee from 2022 Class

One of the key bargaining points in the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations is the institution of an International Draft. Currently, the Rule 4 draft includes players from the United States, territories of the United States like Puerto Rico, and Canada. The players from other countries not on this list are subject to international free agency.

Unfortunately, that system has led to a number of problems and controversy. For example, in 2018, Sports Illustrated broke a story that the FBI investigated the Los Angeles Dodgers for their practices in international free agency. Recently, we saw conflicting reports regarding whether Juan Soto‘s brother was going to sign with the New York Mets or Washington Nationals despite the fact he was too young to sign during this period.

In an endeavor to curb these problems and abuses, Major League Baseball has been pushing for said International Draft, and based upon the tone and tenor of the negotiations, it appears one will be instituted. Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com has provided the framework for the draft which is as follows:

  • 20 Round Draft
  • Clubs cannot pass on selections
  • Guaranteed signing bonuses for each spot starting with $5.45 million for the first pick
  • Draft pick can be traded
  • Draft order randomized and not tied to record
  • Supplemental picks awarded for players drafted from “non-traditional international countries”
  • Player must be at least 16 years old
  • Players subject to drug testing

The expectation is there will be around 600 draft picks. If a player in not drafted, they would then be able to sign with a team via free agency much like how MLB teams sign non-drafted free agents after the Rule 4 draft. At the moment, there does not appear to be any details on what the limits would be for how much a non-drafted player could receive.

One interesting note is the top pick is currently slated to receive $5.45 million. At the moment, the highest pool allocation for teams is set between $4.75 – $5.75 million. As a result, there will be more bonus money available to international free agents than had recently been. Castrovince reports the expectation is this will increase total bonuses paid by approximately $23 million.

Hall of Famer David Ortiz talked to ESPN today his issues with the proposed International Draft in this thread.

Ultimately, this is a step in the direction of curbing abuses. As Amaurys Nina of the Amaurys Nina Baseball Academy in the Dominican Republic told Castrovince, there are 12 year olds preparing to sign MLB deals instead of going to school, and he is seeing 13 year olds reach informal agreements. As a result, he says while he was originally against the draft, “with the way the system is, the only goal is to have the Draft.”

Obviously, this will have an impact on the flow of international talent to teams. For example, the Mets have used their network and allocated large allotments of their bonus pools to sign top prospects like Francisco Alvarez and Ronny Mauricio. Now, those players would be drafted leaving the organizations to use their scouting to not only identify where players should be drafted, but to also identify those players who could be gems in the later rounds.