MLB Owners Float Sweeping Amateur Rules in New CBA Talks, Including Ban on High School Signings and International Draft

Major League Baseball owners are laying out a broad set of proposals for a new collective bargaining agreement that would materially change the amateur pipeline, including a plan to bar high school players from signing directly with MLB teams and to add an international draft. The proposals were discussed in negotiations Thursday, according to FOX Sports, as both sides work through competing views on how talent should be distributed and how much money should be available for club-controlled amateur spending.

At the center of the plan is an attempt to end the current path in which high school prospects can sign with a major league club and begin their professional careers without going through college. MLB’s amateur system has long allowed teams to sign eligible players, but the owners’ proposal would remove that option for high school players specifically, a move that would push more of that talent toward alternative routes such as college, where eligibility and development follow different rules.

Owners also proposed raising the age for international amateurs. In MLB, international amateur signings occur outside the domestic amateur draft, and changes to age thresholds can shift when and how clubs can target prospects from Latin America, Asia, and other regions. Raising the age generally delays when teams gain access to certain players, potentially affecting development timelines and the balance of risk between players, clubs, and training infrastructure.

FOX Sports reported that owners further discussed “slashing” the money spent on signing bonuses in negotiations, tying the broader amateur approach to how much clubs can offer during talks. Bonus reductions and tighter limits would represent a significant tightening of the economics of amateur acquisition, and they would likely reverberate through scouting priorities, signing strategies, and the leverage players and their representatives have when negotiating with clubs.

The discussion of “adding an international draft” is also notable for how it would restructure club-building. An international draft would operate more like the domestic draft, moving the acquisition process away from negotiations that can vary substantially by club and market. If implemented, the result could be a more standardized distribution of international prospects and a different set of team-building incentives across MLB.

For players, the proposals would create new uncertainty around timing and route-to-pro status. For clubs, they would reduce the ability to lock in certain players early and could alter how teams balance international and domestic resources. The owners’ package is a bargaining position, not a guarantee of adoption, and MLB players and the players’ union would still need to agree to any final terms.

What to watch next is whether the union pushes back on the concept of a high school signing ban and instead advocates for modified rules that preserve current opportunities. The negotiations over amateur entry will likely become one of the most scrutinized parts of the bargaining process, because it directly affects where talent comes from, how teams acquire it, and the financial structure around those acquisitions.