Ostrich playing rookie ball with the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
After being drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 34th round of the 2015 MLB Draft out of Old Dominion University, Taylor Ostrich signed with the club for a small signing bonus. Unlike some of the highly touted first rounders that we interviewed, Ostrich and many of his teammates had trouble making ends meet in the Minor Leagues. Taylor shares our concern for economic inequality in the MiLB, as he tells us some pitiful stories describing the tribulations MiLB players go through during the season.
"I did not make enough to live comfortably off of my salary. It was extremely difficult having not had a large signing bonus and a wealthy family to support me. Having a monthly salary of roughly $1500 that is only received during the playing months (April/May-August/September) in which you had to pay for rent or a discounted hotel price to live, food, cleats, gloves, batting gloves, bats (any baseball equipment - if you were at High A or above and had an agent you could more than likely get free equipment but not guaranteed) I consistently received 2 checks a month for $244 so $488 a month. It made it hard to eat and to eat a healthy diet needed while living that lifestyle.
Minor Leaguers are paid roughly $0.10-$0.15 an hour.... when you add in travel time that’s required, mandatory lifting, early work, extra work, batting practice and games. A Minor Leaguer more than likely spends approximately 10-12 hours a day at the ballpark. I would say at least a minimum of 8 hours. Then in some leagues you get on the bus after 6-10 hours to the next city. So a salary of $1500-$3000 is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. A few years back the US Senate passed a bill that did not require MLB teams to pay Minor League players a minimum wage due to classifying the job as an “entertainment career” and the price of chasing a dream. I believe players should be paid a fair wage, not even taking into account 12+ hours a day and going over the federal limit of 40 hours a week which requires OT to be paid every hour over, that they can actually live above poverty, afford to take care of themselves and stay healthy, and take the financial aspect out of chasing the dream. Way too many talented players have hung up their cleats solely because they couldn’t make ends meet. Some people have families, children, and have to pay to have a workout facility in the off-season (which they are having to balance with a full time work schedule). Only 1% of Minor Leaguers sign their contract with a signing bonus large enough to allow them to live a comfortable life while playing. When you compare MiLB salaries to MLB salaries is repulsive. What would a couple million out of one $300M+ MLB contract do for MiLB players? I don’t want to say it’s not fair because everyone knows this going in but when you look at the numbers for both, both are considered “entertainers'' and play in front of crowds each and every night where someone is making money off of them, I believe there needs to be some serious changes.
So many times I was walking across the street from a hotel at midnight after a game to get half a $5 footlong from Subway, just a half, so I could eat in the coming days until the next check. MiLB players don’t have the ability to “get away from the game” on an off day because we can’t afford to do anything. The best thing I did on an off day in the middle of the summer in Arizona was go golfing for $5 (because of was so damn hot the prices were so low (one $5 course I played was $80 a round in the months not in summer just to get people to play). The saddest thing I would see on a daily basis was the foreign players who would take extra bananas, apples, sunflower seeds, baseballs, grapes, really anything and bring them back to where they lived so they could box it up and send it back to their families (Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, etc.) so they could try and support them. There are so many stories of myself and others I played with who would “spot” each other to go eat or do something just so we could survive. It was a very tough lifestyle.
I would say the pay was definitely one of the biggest reasons I stopped playing. I was 23 years old (now some in MiLB are as young as 16) and looking forward to my future and couldn’t gamble on it. I asked myself if I could deal with being 30 or so years old and come so close and did everything I could to make the Big Leagues to get that life changing contract just to fall short, could I deal with starting “real life” with absolutely nothing to my name but an amazing experience and journey. My answer was no, I couldn’t gamble on the rest of my life and take the chance of being 30 with nothing, no financial base, and almost ten years behind the rest of the world for my age. I couldn’t do it, so many others made the same choice, and it’s unfortunate because myself and them as well never really got a realistic chance at our dreams."
- Taylor Ostrich