Minor league baseball players will be paid through May 31

Major League Baseball on Tuesday announced that minor leaguers will be paid through May 31, extending a plan of support during the coronavirus shutdown.

Minor league players will be paid a stipend — reported to be $400 per week, per J.J. Cooper of Baseball America and others — through May 31 or the start of the minor league season, whichever is sooner. Baseball’s original plan of support paid that same stipend to minor leaguers through April 8, the original end date of minor league spring training.

All players will continue to receive medical benefits during the hiatus. As an exception, minor leaguers who won’t be paid the $400/week stipend include players who are already receiving housing, food or other services from teams, and players on the restricted, voluntary retired, disqualified or ineligible lists.

In addition, MLB says teams will “ make its own arrangements to provide support to players on Dominican Summer League rosters during the same period.”

The $400 per week is more than the minimum salaries for Class-A ($290 per week) and Double-A ($350), but less than Triple-A ($502). But with no games, there are also no mandatory clubhouse dues the players must pay daily. Also, there are no real minor league levels at the moment anyway, since under a national emergency MLB has suspended all minor league contracts and won’t supply minor league teams with players. This is more of a procedural move for now since there aren’t any games anytime soon.