Drew Stubbs making a sliding catch for the Colorado Rockies in 2014.
Drew Stubbs was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the first round (8th overall) of the 2006 MLB Draft from the University of Texas. Stubbs played 11 professional seasons, spending the first four in the Minors, as well as parts of two others. Drew has an interesting perspective as an extremely high draft pick. He looks back on his time in the Minors, grateful and sympathetic for his former teammates who had very difficult times coming up through the ranks.
"If I were not a first round pick, it would have been really difficult to live on my salary. We all had host families in Rookie ball, and usually multiple roommates after that to make rent affordable. Many of my teammates were forced to get offseason jobs to supplement their baseball income.
Minor Leaguers have always been grossly underpaid, but hopefully with some of the affiliates being phased out, the teams should be able to pay the players more money due to the fewer numbers.
I was lucky to have a first round signing bonus, but most of my teammates were always looking for loopholes to save money and do side jobs for extra money. They always had a lot of baseball lessons in the offseason, etc."
- Drew Stubbs