MLB has sent a memo to all 30 teams with a fare warning. Teams are not to encourage draft-eligible prospects to drop out of school and instead play elsewhere in another country so they can sign as an international free agent, reports ESPN. Drafted players can only sign with the team that drafts them. International free agents can sign with the team of their choosing.
A significant portion of the memo sent to teams were obtained by ESPN.
“It has come to our attention that clubs have been encouraging amateur players in the United States to withdraw from, or otherwise refrain from playing, high school baseball in the United States and/or Canada, in order to try to establish residency in a foreign country, in an effort to make themselves eligible to sign under the International Amateur Talent System instead of the Rule 4 Draft.”
MLB Doesn’t Want Amateur Players Withdrawing from School
The MLB Draft is baseball’s annual summer tradition along with the All-Star Game. Players from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico are subject to the draft. All other players are international free agents, with the signing period running from January 15 to December 15 each year. Each team receives a set bonus pool for international free agency each year and the bonus pool is a hard cap. It makes it difficult for the player to negotiate for a larger bonus than ones in the past when international free agency was uncapped.
In theory, teams could convince a player who won’t fall to them on draft day to become an international free agent so they can acquire him. MLB ultimately wants to put an end to it altogether. However, in the memo, encouraging players to change their eligibility “shall be subject to significant penalties, including but not limited to, the denial of the player selection rights under the [MLB Draft] or loss of benefits under the International Amateur Talent System.”
The Lucius Fox Incident
Lucius Fox was a shortstop and native of the Bahamas who moved to Florida to play high school baseball. Fox was seen by many as a player who was a first-round prospect after his junior year of high school. What Fox ended up doing was moving back home by declaring himself a free agent in April 2015. Three months later, he eventually signed with the San Francisco Giants. Fox, now 26, is a free agent who has played in ten big league games. All of which came in 2022 with the Washington Nationals.
It’s possible for some draft-eligible players to go through international free agency without doing what Fox did. New York Yankees prospect Henry Lalane, has dual citizenship in the United States and the Dominican Republic. Lalane was able to skip the draft and pick his team as an international free agent.
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