MLB announces salary plan for minor leaguers amid work stoppage

Major League Baseball teams will pay all minor leaguers $400 per week through May 31 or until the beginning of the season, whichever comes first, the league announced Tuesday.

All minor leaguers will continue to receive medical benefits, MLB adds.

The league originally said in mid-March that it would provide interim support to minor leaguers through April 8 due to the work stoppage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Exceptions to the new salary plan include players with major-league contracts, players receiving housing, food, or other services from clubs, and those on the restricted, voluntary retired, disqualified, or ineligible lists. Each team will also make its own arrangements to provide support to players on Dominican summer league rosters.

Minor League Baseball was also informed team affiliates will not be getting players from major-league clubs.

The salary plan will come as a big hit for MiLB veterans, but it represents a pay raise for first- and second-year players, according to JJ Cooper of Baseball America.

Under normal circumstances, the league minimum for a Triple-A player is $502 per week and $350 per week for those at Double-A, notes Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.

Minor leaguers who are under contract wouldn't have been eligible for unemployment, reports Lindsey Adler of The Athletic, who adds many of them work as coaches for high schoolers during the offseason, which isn't possible right now.