Average player salary in MLB sets record high

The average salary for Major League Baseball players has increased 14.8% over the last two years, largely on the back of the mega-deals done for superstars like Max Scherzer, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Fernando Tatis.

In any industry, it is the fat cats sitting at the top who make the big bucks. When multi-million-dollar bankers get a raise, it never trickles down to the guy in the basement office. Baseball is no different.

With this in mind, the average salary is $4.22 million in MLB, the third-highest for any league in any sport, behind the NBA and the Indian IPL cricket league. MLB sits just ahead of soccer’s English Premier League and $1 million ahead of the NFL.

Of course, the numbers will be skewed for every sport, with the top stars earnings pushing that average higher than it perhaps should be, but since this distortion is the same across all sports, we can take it as a level comparison.

Rob Manfred spoke earlier this month about creating a “a more national product” to “produce more centrally shared revenue, which, in turn, we hope would reduce payroll disparities.” Part of his plans include some form of salary cap, which the MLBPA is firmly in opposition to.

Union chief Tony Clark stated categorically, “We’re never going to agree to a cap. Let me start there. We don’t have a cap, we’re not going to agree to a cap. A salary cap is the ultimate restriction on player value and player salary. We believe in a market system. The market system has served our players, our teams and our game very well.”

With more than $3.5 billion, yes that is billion with a “B”, spent this off season, most of the cash has been laid out by the top five teams in the list. Up to Christmas, the Yankees account for $573 million, the Giants spent $463 million, and the Mets spent $461 million. The Phillies follow that up with $387 million and the Padres round it out at $326 million.

The money drops substantially all the way to zero, which is what has been laid out by the Marlins and Brewers, while the lowest figure of any team who actually parted with cash is the Atlanta Braves, who have paid out only $875,000.