Avery with the Baltimore Orioles in 2012.
Xavier Avery was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the second round of the 2008 MLB Draft out of Cedar Grove High School in Ellenwood, GA and received a $900,000 signing bonus. Avery acknowledges that he was at a financial advantage early in his professional career, but noticed many teammates struggling to make ends meet. He shared his strong opinions on MiLB wages that align directly with our values. Since he was able to achieve some semblance of financial stability and still feels for his teammates who were not so fortunate, his stories carry a lot of weight.
"I personally did make enough to live comfortably in the MiLB, but I’ve witnessed countless Minor Leaguers throughout my ten year career who couldn’t fully support themselves. I have helped other Minor Leaguers financially whether it be with living arrangements or getting food until their next checks came in.
Based on how many hours we are at the field and riding buses to and from places, Minor Leaguers are paid below minimum wage. There was a lawsuit filed on that matter some years ago. The tricky part about that was that current players couldn’t take the risk of speaking on it because they might have lost their job. Education wise, the bargaining agreement in place doesn’t fully compensate players going to college and after ten years from your signing day the baseball bargaining agreement stops paying for housing. During spring training, players don’t get paid like during the regular season. They get like $25 a day for food and everything else because they say Spring Training is optional but in reality it’s not optional. It’s not optional because you’ll lose your job.
I’ve seen plenty of players struggle and I’ve personally been put in a situation where I had to pay to break my lease on an apartment to go to another level in the Minor Leagues which I wasn’t compensated for.
Yes, wage was a contributing factor to my retirement because I have to think about my daughter and bills. Baseball frowns upon having kids around because it’s not 100% welcoming in that aspect. I can talk all day on these matters. If players in the Minors were paid more they could concentrate more on simply playin the game more. If you aren’t aware of racial inequality, well it exists. There is no way black Americans percentages should be so low in professional baseball. It systematically starts in the Minors."
- Xavier Avery