Major League Baseball To Pay For Minor Leaguers’ Housing

Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

In a massive shift in policy and treatment of minor leaguers, Major League Baseball will require every team to pay for its minor league players’ housing in full starting in 2022, according to ESPN‘s Jeff Passan.

Passan reported that there isn’t an exact plan set in place (though he said that all 30 owners unanimously agreed to a plan, whatever it may be, to pay for housing back in mid-September), but the options include teams directly providing the housing for players or they will be given stipends to cover the full cost of housing. The former option would be the ideal scenario for minor leaguers because it’d take the pressure of having to find a place off the player, who often can be transported between multiple cities during a single season.

The Mets and Steve Cohen were pressured in the middle of the season to adjust their pay for their minor leaguers, though the solution only came as a half measure. As the New York Daily News reported, the Mets began giving Triple-A players a $300-a-month stipend, and Cohen paid back the $10-a-night “hotel costs” fee the High-A team was charging the players. This treatment of minor league players–nickel-and-diming them when they average making less than $15,000 (at most) over a five-month season–is not novel to Cohen or the Mets. It dates back to every owner in the history of the game.

The Houston Astros started to provide minor leaguers with furnished apartments back in May. Now, the Mets–and all teams–will provide full housing to all levels of the minor leagues.

Harry Marino, the executive director of Advocates of Minor Leaguers, who have put pressure on MLB to reform its treatment of minor-league players, provided a statement to Passan:

“This is a historic victory for minor league baseball players. … When we started talking to players this season about the difficulties they face, finding and paying for in-season housing was at the top of almost every player’s list. As a result, addressing that issue became our top priority.”

This is a significant step to ensuring minor league players are treated fairly at all levels. The next step is ensuring they aren’t paid poverty levels.

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