MLB pushing to remove high school players from draft eligibility
While Major League Baseball and the MLBPA continue to hash out negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the MLB’s newest proposal includes some drastic changes to the draft.
According to multiple reports, including from JJ Cooper of Baseball America, the MLB’s updated plan included cutting the draft from 20 to 12 rounds, making high school players ineligible and a new international draft.
“MLB’s proposal would mean that beginning in 2028, high school players would no longer be eligible for the MLB draft. Instead, players in the U.S. and Canada would be draft eligible two years after their high school class graduated, and they would have to be at least 20 years old on Sept. 1 of that draft year. The vast majority of players would be draft eligible after their sophomore season in college,” Cooper said in a Baseball America video. “There will be a new international draft as well, and for that draft, players would need to be 18 by Sept. 1 of their draft year. As opposed to 17 by Sept. 1, to be draft eligible and sign right now.”
The plan does not just cut the length of the draft but also features hard slots, which are a set signing bonus a player gets upon being drafted with no real negotiation room.
With fewer rounds, the draft lottery will also be cut from six picks to four, which, as Cooper says, “is tied to MLB’s larger salary cap and shared revenues proposal, would no longer include competitive balance picks. The draftees who would be drafted would make significantly less money.”
Here in Georgia, this new plan could act as a double-edged sword.
On one hand, high school-ready players such as Daniel Pierce (Mill Creek) and Dax Kilby (Newnan) — who each were drafted in the first round of the 2025 MLB draft — would likely have to wait until their sophomore year of college before hearing their names called.
The Peach State is widely considered an annual hotbed for high school talent come draft season. Last year, 13 high school seniors were picked — five in the first five rounds.
Over the last five years, 46 high schoolers were taken, including Pittsburgh Pirates RHP Bubba Chandler (North Oconee), Arizona Diamondbacks minor league outfielder Drew Jones (Wesleyan) and St. Louis Cardinals Jordan Walker (Decatur).
This year will likely see prospects like Etowah’s Trevor Condon, Blessed Trinity’s Joseph Contreras and Citizen Christian’s Blake Bryant taken in the top 100 picks.
On the other hand, colleges and universities like UGA, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State could benefit on the recruiting trail.
Schools like Georgia and Tech have recently directed their recruiting efforts to the transfer portal and could start to lean more into high school development, with the top amateur recruits now being available under the proposed changes.