Here’s why these baseball players may strike out if Congress passes the spending bill

Minor-league baseball players may come out losers in the $1.3 trillion spending bill that’s set to be approved by the Senate on Friday.

Buried inside the 2,232-page omnibus spending bill that passed the House on Thursday is a provision to continue to allow Major League Baseball to pay minor-league players less than a minimum wage.

The league has lobbied for such legislation for years, but this latest attempt seems almost certain to pass. MLB — whose teams pay for minor-league salaries — says those players are seasonal workers rather than full-time employees, and thus are not covered by federal minimum-wage laws.

Under the language in the bill, minor-league players would be entitled to the federal minimum wage for a 40-hour week — regardless if they work more hours. According to a lawsuit filed in 2015, most minor-leaguers work 60 to 70 hours per week, including playing six games a week, practice, workouts and travel time.

While the average major-league player made a comfortable $4.4 million in 2016, the current monthly minimum salary for minor-leaguers is $1,100, the Washington Post reported. Under the bill, that would rise to $1,160. That would work out to an annual salary of $13,920, slightly above the federal poverty line for a single person, at $12,140. For an experienced player at the AAA level who’s on his parent team’s 40-man roster but without MLB experience, the top salary is around $40,000 a year, according to CBS Sports.

Unlike in MLB, minor-leaguers are not represented by a players’ union.

While many minor-leaguers are grateful to be paid for playing a game, they complain that it’s not a living wage. Many say they can’t afford to buy a house or rent an apartment, and struggle to pay bills and cover offseason workout expenses. Many take up second jobs out of necessity.

Kyle Johnson, a minor-league player in the New York Mets system, told USA Today that he just wants fair pay. “I completely understand that there are bigger social issues out there that impact more people,” he said. “I’m not saying pay every guy $200 grand a year, but pay him a living wage year-round — something in the $40-60,000 a year range, where I can have a family and not have to worry every second about the bills that we have, or if I can sign my daughter up for gymnastics.”

MLB, which grossed more than $10 billion in revenue in 2017, contends that paying minor-leaguers more would force them to pass on the extra costs to minor-league teams, potentially forcing them out of business.

Critics say that’s a hollow argument. The league has posted record gross revenues for 15 straight years, according to Forbes, thanks largely to sponsorships and booming broadcasting rights.

USA Today did some math and found that if every major-league organization gave its roughly 250 minor-league players a $30,000-a-year raise, it would cost about $7.5 million — “roughly the cost of a decent fourth outfielder on the free-agent market.”