Magnifico pitching for the Brewers in 2016 at Wrigley Field.
Damien Magnifico was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the fifth round of the 2012 MLB Draft from the University of Oklahoma and signed for $285,000. Magnifico played parts of five seasons in the Minor Leagues before making his MLB debut in 2016 for the Brewers. He has since played for the AAA affiliates of the Pirates and subsequently the Diamondbacks. With a substantial signing bonus, Damien had a bit of a financial cushion compared to some of his Minor League teammates. While he never experienced some of the Minor League stories that we have heard so much about, he confirms their existence having teammates who went through the gauntlet in the MiLB.
"If I had to survive and live off of a Minor League salary then yes it would have been difficult. I was lucky enough to receive a large signing bonus which I ultimately lived off of. Minor Leaguers are treated as expendable pawns, not as humans. We are just a number within a system ultimately. Yes, there are plenty of stories of guys not having any money to eat, having to borrow money to pay rent, and debt collectors calling everyday. But none of them are mine to tell.
That is the staple meal of the MiLB. Go into a locker room around noon or 1 and guys are just getting there making their first meal of the day most times, PB&J’s.
The most amount players that I have lived with is 5 to a 3 bedroom apartment. Taking home spread was a luxury. A lot of guys don’t have manners and will crush spread even if others haven’t eaten yet.
My rookie ball year I shared a room with another guy in a host family basement on an air mattress that had a hole in it so every morning I woke up in a taco. That’s just scratching the surface really. I hadn’t even seen my first paycheck or a cent of my bonus yet to do anything about it.
It just amazes me that when people ask about Minor League life and get told that they had no idea and thought we all had money growing on trees.
Another problem is if you Google my name, on Wikipedia it says I make/made $500,000 as a salary. Not once did I ever make that much money in a season, yet alone lucky if I made that in my career including my signing bonus!
Just like the most famous lie: 'If you got one day in Bigs, you get Big League insurance for life.'
I believe that if you are already on 40-man before being called up, you still make first year 40-man roster money. But, if called up and have not been on 40-man roster before being called up, you go straight to second year 40-man roster money. That is what you make while in the Minors. While you are in the Majors, you make whatever your Major League salary is.
40-man money is good money. When I was added in 2015 after the season, my first year it was $41,000 and my second year it was $82,000.
There are 30 teams, 40-45 40 man roster guys (IL doesn’t count towards it) so around 1,200-1,300 players on 40 man rosters at a time and 30 teams, around 200+ or so minor leaguers per team, so around 6,000-7,000 Minor Leaguers.
- Damien Magnifico