Professional baseball players at the minor league level often have to struggle to make a living as they pursue their MLB dreams, and Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle thinks the system baseball has in place for paying players who are working their way up is “disgusting.”
In his weekly appearance on 106.7 The Fan’s “Grant & Danny Show,” Doolittle unloaded on teams for not paying minor league players enough. He said he was fortunate enough to have a financial safety net from being a first-round pick but that he has seen the pay scale “break a lot of guys.”
“The pay in the minor leagues, I think it’s terrible, it’s disgusting, it’s exploitative,” Doolittle said.
Doolittle spoke about how some players in the minors make such a small amount that they have to make a decision about what they want to do with their life “while this carrot is being dangled in front of you.” The issue is clearly one he is very passionate about.
“Maybe you only have a high school education, and it’s like, ‘Alright. Well do I want to put my life on hold for four more years while I go back to school and work towards getting a job? How do I do that?'” he added. “So, you know, you hang on as long as you possibly can.”
Part of the reason Doolittle was asked about pay in the minors is that his teammate, Adam Eaton, recently said he feels he is better off for having gone through tough times in the minors. He later clarified that he was only speaking from personal experience and said the wage scale could be “more fair.” Doolittle said fixing the problem starts with paying more.
While a lot of minor league players make far more than the average American, the overall discussion helps give more context into why Kyler Murray made the decision he made. The road to Major League Baseball is a long and difficult one, and oftentimes it is unfulfilled.
