MLB Wants Radical Draft Overhaul in New Proposal to MLBPA

There was another twist between the league and MLBPA with another proposal on Thursday.

Baseballs sit in a bucket Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 during the MiLB baseball game between the Greenville Drive and the Hub City Spartanburgers at Fifth Third Park in Spartanburg, South Carolina. | Alex Martin/Greenville News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Negotiations between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association took another turn on Thursday.

To this point in the negotiations, both the league and the MLBPA have both made proposals to the other side with the collective bargaining agreement set to expire after the season. So far, the league somehow is winning the public relations game. That's not to say their offer has been better than the MLBPA's, but they are winning the PR battle so far in large part because they proposed not only a salary cap, but a salary floor that would raise the spending of a handful of teams across the league, on paper at least. It's not a perfect science and when you dig deeper into the numbers, it's not as simply as the salary cap and floor.

Both sides rejected the other side's proposal and the MLBPA cited the 1994 strike while shutting down the idea of a salary cap. Fans of baseball are paying attention and certainly have had opinions as billionaires negotiate with millionaires about the future of the sport.

On Thursday, things took another turn. On Thursday, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that the league made a proposal that would completely overhaul the amateur system, remove high school players from the MLB Draft, and shorten the MLB Draft to 12 rounds, among other things.

"MLB today proposed an overhauled domestic amateur-entry system that removes high school players from the draft, makes college players eligible after sophomore year, shortens the draft from 20 to 12 rounds, and cuts bonus pool from current $358.7M to $200M, sources tell ESPN, Passan wrote.

MLB Dropped A New CBA Proposal

Jun 4, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; A bucket of baseballs sits on the field before a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

ESPN's Alden González also reported that the league proposed an international draft.

"MLB has proposed an international draft, just like it did during the last round of talks. This one is for roughly the same money but significantly fewer slots," González wrote.

González also reported that the minimum age would be 18 years old.

This is a very intriguing update in this saga. When it comes to the international free agent market, it almost feels like it's directed at the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have had a lot of success in the Japanese market recently, like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. When it comes to the draft, this is years in the making. The MLB Draft used to be 40 rounds and then was reduced during COVID. The 2020 MLB Draft was five rounds and it hasn't gotten back to what it used to be. The bonus pool cuts are significant to the point that it would be surprising if something like this was accepted.

The biggest takeaway from this update on Thursday is that there are far more issues to sort through than just a potential salary cap, to say the least.