Emily Waldon of The Athletic spoke to 30 people about the hardships

In an article for The Athletic Robbie Grossman Jersey , Emily Waldon tries to put a human face upon the harsh lives that minor league ballplayers lead as they try to achieve their major league dreams. (The Athletic sub. req.) The piece is behind a paywall, but since minor league pay has been a repeated topic of conversation around here, I’ll try to quote as much of it as I can under fair use rules.Everyone that Waldon spoke to requested anonymity. She quotes several players about why no one is speaking up about this unconscionable situation. Waldon does quote two major league players who have been outspoken about this issue: Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle. Wainwright is near the end of his career and has very little to lose at this point. Doolittle is known for being outspoken and not caring if it upsets anyone. But when people ask why don’t the minor leaguers speak up or organize or do something about their plight, that’s why. I’m sure that if and when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. speaks out about the plight of minor leaguers, he’s not going to get released. Ignored, maybe, but not released. But for 95 percent of them? Speaking up means the end of their careers.As I wrote last week, Spring Training is unpaid. And that extends to anyone who is left behind in Extended Spring Training that can last until June. With that, you have to find a place to live. For the young guys, there is a dorm that the players can stay in. But what if the player is married with a family?Waldon also restates the actual pay for minor leaguers once they leave Spring Training, which ranges from a high of $2,700 a month for a player with three years of experience in Triple-A to a low of $1,160 a month for players just starting out in low-A. I should stress that some Triple-A players earn a lot more than that if they’ve been around long enough (7 years) to experience minor-league free agency or if they’re on the 40-man roster, which means that they are covered by the major league union. But for ordinary minor leaguers, that’s the pay scale.Minor leaguer NBA players in their G-League are guaranteed $35 Kyle Gibson Jersey ,000 a year. Minor league NHL players receive a minimum of $47,500 a year. It is true that neither one of those sports employs nearly as many minor leaguers as MLB does. Neither of those leagues has the overall revenue of MLB either. Once a player gets sent to a minor league affiliate, they have to find a place to live. Teams usually pay for two or three days at a hotel and after that, the player is expected to find their own place to live. The lowest levels of the minors have host families, but none of the higher levels do. Additionally, the quality of the programs to place players in with host families varies widely from organization to organization.Host families end up doing a lot out of the goodness of their hearts.For those that don’t have host families, they’re left in pretty tough situations.One thing I haven’t mentioned in my pieces on minor league pay is clubhouse dues. Yes, players get a small per diem, but they also have to pay $5 to $15 a day in clubhouse dues. As Waldon notes, a lot of the Latin American players are sending a chunk of that tiny paycheck and per diem home as well.One thing that minor leaguers do say has gotten better recently is the food provided by the team for the post-game meal, at least on the higher levels. One player said they got Chipotle or Panda Express catered in Double-A, and they were pretty happy about that. Still, while that might keep their bellies full, it’s not exactly the type of diet an elite athlete should be eating on a regular basis. Below Double-A, however . . .This is why it was so huge when Yu Darvish bought a catered steak and lobster dinner for the players of both teams when he was on a rehab assignment in South Bend last season.Waldon also quotes players about the miserable bus trips that the players have to take that can last as long as 13 hours and how creative they have to be to get some sleep in. She also talks about the jobs they do in the offseason to try to make enough money to get through the regular season.But she ends with this quote from a player in High-A. This is a man who has spent much of his life preparing for a major league baseball career that may never come. And it highlights why all of this is so important.So please Logan Morrison Jersey , subscribe to The Athletic to read the whole thing. The attention that articles like this one is getting is starting to make a difference. The Toronto Blue Jays announced that they intend to increase their minor league pay by 40% to 56% across their affiliates. That’s not nearly enough (and again, to the Blue Jays credit, they acknowledge that it’s not enough), but it’s a good first step and the Blue Jays deserve to be applauded for taking it. I doubt they do so if it weren’t for journalists and fans continuing to keep this story in the public eye. Spoiler alert: we’re going to have this debate a lot over the next seven months."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Detroit Tigers AnalysisDetroit Tigers Prospect NotebookDetroit Tigers Game ThreadsDetroit Tigers NewsDetroit Tigers PodcastsMLB DraftDetroit Tigers Draft CoverageShould the Tigers take a pitcher or hitter in the 1st round of the 2019 MLB draft?New,32commentsSpoiler alert: we’re going to have this debate a lot over the next seven months.releasing top prospect lists and early mock drafts. MLB Pipeline took an early stab at predicting the top 10 picks earlier this week, and to little surprise, paired the Detroit Tigers with a promising starting pitcher.The actual pick doesn’t matter at this point. Whether it’s Duke lefthander Graeme Stinson, big righthander Carter Stewart — who Perfect Game ranked the No. 5 prospect in the 2019 class — or someone else, the question is a simple one: pitcher or hitter?Our own Jay Markle took to Twitter to take the fanbase’s pulse on the matter.Generally speaking, teams should look to take the best player available in the MLB draft. The wash-out rate of prospects is so high that a team can never really have too much prospect depth at any position. Injuries, position changes, and trades can change a team’s organizational depth chart in a flash.But let’s say the Tigers find themselves deciding between two prospects they find relatively similar. Should they take the pitcher or the hitter?On one hand, you can never have too much pitching depthProspects wash-out rate is high, and it is even higher for pitchers. Not all pitchers develop at the same rate, and even a stable of solid starting pitching prospects won’t all break into the majors at the same time. Some will move to the bullpen. Others will fail entirely. By acquiring as many pitching prospects as possible Orlando Arcia Jersey , the Tigers will have a better chance of developing their own young, cost-controlled pitching staff for a future contender.One could also argue that building a team focused around young, cost-controlled pitching is less risky than having to find top arms on the free agent market or via trade. Veteran pitchers get injured more often than veteran hitters as well, and paying top dollar for a player who fails to produce (Jordan Zimmermann, for example) can set a team back for years to come.The Tigers could also use a premier bat in their systemDetroit’s farm system is very pitcher-heavy at the moment. Outfielder Daz Cameron and shortstop Isaac Paredes are coming off breakout seasons, but they are the only two position prospects that project to be starters at the MLB level. Getting another top bat in the system would go a long way in helping the Tigers create a well-rounded core of young, controllable players.Top college bats also have the best odds of panning out at the MLB level. Hitters who can handle the college game — especially as it has become increasingly pitcher-friendly over the past half-decade — translate very well to the minors, and often reach the major leagues very quickly. Alex Bregman, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Dansby Swanson, Buster Posey, and Ryan Braun are all recent(ish) examples of top-five picks out of college who reached the majors in just two seasons.What do you think?