11 MLB players won't receive any more paychecks this season

Eleven Major League Baseball players won't receive paychecks during the shortened 2020 season because their prorated salaries for the campaign equal less than the advance payments already made to them, according to Ronald Blum of The Associated Press.

MLB teams forwarded $170 million in advanced pay to players as part of a March agreement between the league and the Major League Baseball Players Association after the league postponed the campaign because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Players on "straight" contracts that call for a single salary each received $286,500, according to Blum. Players on "split" contracts who earn lower salaries in the minor leagues than when they play in the majors each received $16,500, $30,000, or $60,000 depending on their minor-league compensation.

*prorated salary is higher as part of five-year contract signed in March

Assuming no more games are canceled this season, the 11 players won't have to pay back any of the difference between their prorated salaries and the advances they received; a section in the March agreement states this money will be returned to teams through the league's international tax fund, Blum reports.

The tax fund is collected from teams that exceed their bonus pools in order to sign international amateurs.

"We’re blessed because we're getting more money than the prorated amount,” Atlanta Braves reliever Grant Dayton said, joking that he would have made as much money as his team's best player if MLB had canceled the season entirely.

"My first reaction was, wow, if we don't have any games this year, I'm going to get paid the same amount that Freddie Freeman's getting paid, so that's pretty cool."

Freeman was originally set to earn $22 million in 2020.