Minor Leaguers Finally Gaining Union Representation Is Most Underplayed Story

Besides improving salaries and living conditions, this boosts  baseball for the future, making it more appealing to prospects

By David Maril

In the midst of the Tampa Bay Rays opening the season with a modern major league record tying 13 straight wins and all of the jubilation over the rule changes resulting in faster paced games, one of the most significant 2023 baseball stories was lost in the shuffle.

Baseball coming to an agreement to allow minor league players to gain representation by the players’ union is a huge accomplishment and long overdue. The five-year agreement elevates minor league salaries to a much more reasonable level and the quality of travel and living conditions will improve.

For so many years, while major league salaries were exploding, baseball’s future talent was pretty much being ignored. If long road trips by bus and many teams picking the most economic budget motels for lodging was only part of the dismal story. Rookie League players were receiving salaries under $5,000, low A leaguers were in the $11,000 range, AA was under $14,000 and AAA was around $17,000. Not too long ago there was a report that several players on one team were living out of their cars to save money.

Now, much of this has changed and the players have a voice with union representation. Rookie League pay has risen to just under $20,000, Low A $26,000, AA over $30,000 and AAA above $35,000.

The higher salaries and better working conditions will provide incentive for multi-sport pro prospects to give more consideration to signing with baseball. It should be a boost to conditioning and development in the off-season with prospects not pressured as much to hold full-time jobs to make ends meet.

Hopefully as the new five-year agreement unfolds and the minor leaguers have greater representation in baseball’s hierarchy, other improvement will take place. At some point, baseball needs to place more limits on how many times players who lack seniority in the big leagues can be shipped back and forth to and from the minors each season.

IN THE MIDST OF TAMPA BAY opening with its low budget roster and 13 straight wins, many baseball observers were shaking their heads. So many wonder how in the world they do it, with the farm system turning out so many legitimate prospects. Just as important is their continual shrewd, hard-edged trading that successfully deals away veterans approaching high salaries for less expensive young talent who develop quickly and pick up the slack.

Why aren’t other teams following this success formula? Some, like Boston, which has plenty of money and doesn’t need to skimp on the payroll, is making an attempt to follow this blueprint, not retaining its highest paid stars. So far, they are succeeding in cutting the budget but not producing great young prospects or making brilliant trades.

While the Red Sox continue to pack Fenway Park, New England fans, paying top price for tickets, concessions and parking, are getting restless and very critical of this attempt at budget control.

This raises another interesting theory of why its easier for the Rays to make hard-edged decisions on not overpaying their leading players. In contrast to Boston, Tampa Bay fans are not vocal. Despite tremendous success on the field, continually reaching the post-season, the fans stay away from home games in droves. The team doesn’t have to worry about hurting attendance by trading away stars because the fans already do not attend games. They have nothing to lose and have found a way to make ends meet in their unpopular and poorly designed stadium.

Big markets like Boston, New York and Los Angeles don’t have this “luxury” of apathetic fans. They face harsh criticism from the fans and media when things do not work out. This isn’t to say that the Red Sox won’t satisfy their fans with a low-budget roster if it wins. But so far, they have not mastered developing a great farm system and, in recent years, a front office that makes shrewd and winning personnel decisions.

BASEBALL, LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE, changes over the years. Many of the changes, like the time clock this year, are positive. One change, however, that many of us can not get used to, is the increasing tolerance for hitters taking called third strikes.

When did it become a badge of honor for a slugger standing at the plate with the bat on his shoulders and taking a strike three? Watching a called third strike fly by into the catcher’s glove used to be considered one of the most stupid and wasteful sins a baseball player could commit.

Years ago, as a kid in Baltimore, when I first started following baseball, the Orioles had a player named Jackie Brandt. He was a decent fielding fielder who could play all three outfield positions and had good speed. He also had some power and the team had high hopes he would turn into a star when he came to Baltimore from the Giants.

Brandt, however, had one flaw that, as a 12-year-old fan, was driving me crazy. Countless times with runners on base he seem to be so concerned with getting the perfect pitch, he’d be called out on strikes. For much of his Orioles’ career, managers Billy Hitchcock and Hank Bauer would hope for a big run-production season from this right-handed hitter but end up working in lefty-hitting Russ Snyder, a hustling contact hitter outfielder who lacked power, more and more into Brandt’s outfield slot.

That said, Brandt was a good player. He finished a very respectable 11 season big league career with over 1,000 hits, 112 homers and a .262 lifetime average. And if he played today, he’d be praised every time he took a called three strike.

Thanks to analytics and an emphasis on power and driving particular pitches out of the park, situational hitting too often takes a back. We’ve all witnessed numerous examples of hitters at the plate with less than two out and a runner on third in a tight game take called third strikes. This even happens in extra-inning situations with the game on the line. Whatever happened to the importance of getting the bat on the ball with the runners in scoring position and doing whatever it takes to knock in a winning run?

Often times after a called third strike, leaving runners in scoring position stranded, you’ll hear the play-by-play announcer or color man make a remark that it was a borderline pitch, and the hitter showed tremendous discipline. Most of the focus is on waiting for a certain pitch that allows a hitter to drive the ball with power. Well, that’s all well and good until the count reaches two strikes and the focus should be on run production, helping the team win.

A swinging strike-out when a power hitter fans doesn’t seem as bad. At least when you swing the bat, you have a chance of making contact and producing some runs. Sluggers who consistently generate home runs take often take big swings and strike out. But it’s not acceptable to stand there with a runner on second or third and watch strike three. Naturally, it’s going to happen from time to time. But this seems to be happening more and, at the very least, doesn’t deserve praise for the hitter being so focused, looking for the perfect pitch.

GOING INTO THIS SEASON, there was concern about hitters and pitchers being able to adjust to the quicker pace, and the restrictions on their opportunities to call for timeouts. There were also concerns raised by baseball broadcasters of being able to fit in stories and background information between pitches while also having time to read promos.

All of this, however, has worked out just fine. But we forgot about one thing. What about beer sales? With innings zipping by at a much quicker pace, revenue from beer sales in major league stadiums may be falling a bit flat because there’s less time to sell and gulp the foamy brews down.

For safety reasons years back, big league teams had cut off alcohol sales, in the seventh inning to give fans a chance to sober up before leaving and driving home from a game. But with so many games now lasting less than three hours, five teams have already extended beer sales through eight innings. That means much less sobering up time but more beer sales.

Phillies, relief pitcher Matt Strahm has gone on record as saying it should be just the opposite. He thinks beer sales should be curtailed after six innings. With the quicker games this makes sense.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL IS always looking to find ways to market all of its exciting young talent on the baseball diamond. With this in mind, why doesn't the Major League Baseball TV network provide player identification in all of the promos, showing highlights and numerous picture plays, of who all these superstars and rising young players are?

Every time a player is shown, the name should be included at the bottom of the screen. With so many teams spread all around the country this would help fans identify the faces and become more interested in the people who play the game.

The audience needs to be able to identify the faces with the names. It’s a complete waste of opportunity the way these highlights and promos are shown.