Radcliffe at Instructional League with the Texas Rangers in 2010.
Kendall Radcliffe was drafted in the 25th round of the 2010 MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers from Morgan Park High School in Chicago, IL. Radcliffe played 23 games of rookie ball for the Texas Rangers in the Arizona Fall League in 2011. He also played a season of Independent ball in the Pecos League with the High Desert Yardbirds (Adelanto, CA) in 2018. Kendall had his fair share of MiLB experiences in 2011. He discussed his reaction to his first paycheck and his thoughts on the MiLB pay structure with us.
"I made money, but not enough to live comfortably. I feel as if the base salary could’ve been a lot better especially for professionals playing through an actual organization. We only made $1100 a month before taxes. After taxes sometimes I would see $25-60 every 2 weeks which I didn’t necessarily understand. So I took a look at my checks to see what was going on and I realized we had to pay for the hotels we stayed in on our own, medical insurance, club house fees etc. so it was definitely kind of tough for me because I wasn’t a bonus baby.
I believe we definitely should’ve been paid way more than $1100 a month. I believe the way they treated us financially was not acceptable. Especially for the people that signed contracts under $50,000 or who didn’t sign for any money at all.
I just remember getting my first check and it was $25. I said, ‘What the hell is this?’ I thought I was being pranked."
- Kendall Radcliffe