How Much Do Major League Baseball Players Make?

Major League Baseball players are some of the highest-paid athletes in the world. The average MLB salary is over $4 million. However, there is a wide range of salaries among players, with some stars making $30 million or more per year and others earning the league minimum of $500,000.

Major League Baseball Players’ Salaries

Major League Baseball players are some of the highest-paid athletes in the world. The average salary for a player in the MLB was $4.47 million in 2019, up from $3.82 million in 2018. The highest-paid player in the league is Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, who makes $37.67 million per year.

Average Major League Baseball player’s salary

According to Spotrac.com, the average Major League Baseball player’s salary is $4,097,122. The salary for a Major League Baseball player depends on a number of factors, including the player’s experience, the number of years he has been under contract, and the team’s payroll.

The average salary for a Major League Baseball player has increased significantly over the years. In 1985, the average salary was $363,000. In 1995, it was $1,170,000. In 2005, it was $2,396,000. And in 2015, it was $4,097,122.

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the increase in Major League Baseball players’ salaries. These include the growth of television revenues and baseball-related businesses, as well as the players’ increasing popularity with fans.

Major League Baseball player’s salary by position

In Major League Baseball, the average player’s salary was $4.47 million in 2019. Salaries at the top of rosters are often much higher than the average. The following is a breakdown of Major League Baseball player salaries by position in 2019.

Catchers: $3.05 million
First basemen: $4.58 million
Second basemen: $4.09 million
Third basemen: $5.28 million
Shortstops: $5.43 million
Outfielders: $3.16 million
Starting pitchers: $5.38 million
Relief pitchers: $2.92 million

Major League Baseball player’s salary by team

The following are Major League Baseball player’s salary by team, as of the 2019 season. Figures in Bold indicate team’s highest paid player.

-Arizona Diamondbacks: $11,612,500 (Zack Greinke)
-Atlanta Braves: $23,005,300 (Freddie Freeman)
-Baltimore Orioles: $13,115,667 (Chris Davis)
-Boston Red Sox: $27,500,000 (Chris Sale)
-Chicago Cubs: $27,040,000 (Kris Bryant)
-Chicago White Sox: $19,666,667 (Jose Abreu)
-Cincinnati Reds: $22,125,000 ( Joey Votto)
-Cleveland Indians: $17 million (Corey Kluber)
-Colorado Rockies: $26 million (Nolan Arenado)
-Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera $30 million
-Houston Astros: Justin Verlander $28 million
-Kansas City Royals: Alex Gordon $20 million
-Los Angeles Angels Mike Trout $33.25 million
-Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw $31 million
-Miami Marlins Bruce Maxwell $555,000
-Milwaukee Brewers Ryan Braun $19 million
New York Mets Yoenis Cespedes $29 million
New York Yankees Giancarlo Stanton$26 million
Oakland Athletics Khris Davis$16.75 million Philadelphia Phillies Bryce Harper$330.5 million Pittsburgh Pirates Starling Marte$11.5 million San Diego Padres Manny Machado$300 million San Francisco Giants Buster Posey$22.177 million Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez$27.85714286 Given the large market size of the New York Yankees they have the highest payroll in MLB at over 235 million dollars while the Miami Marlins have the lowest at just over 55 thousand dollars

How Major League Baseball Players’ Salaries Are Determined

Most Major League Baseball players are paid very well, with the average player earning over $3 million per year. However, there is a lot of variation in how much players are paid. salaries are determined by a number of factors, including the player’s performance, the amount of money the team has to spend, and the length of the player’s contract.

Free agency

In baseball, free agency is a system by which players who have five or more years of service in the major leagues can sign with any team in Major League Baseball (MLB) without restriction, except for draft-order compensation. Free agency was established in 1976. Prior to that, players were bound to the team that signed them to their first professional contract and were not able to negotiate with other teams.

In general, players become eligible for free agency if they are not under contract with their current team and have accumulated six years of service time. Players who have been released by their team may become free agents immediately. Some players who have been traded may also become free agents depending on the terms of the trade. If a player is claiming hardship, he may be declared a free agent upon accumulating four years of service time.

Players become free agents after their contracts have expired or they have been released by their teams. Once a player becomes a free agent, he is free to sign with any team in MLB, subject to draft-order compensation if he signs with a team that has a worse record than his former team.

Salary arbitration

In baseball, salary arbitration is a process by which players can have their salaries decided by an impartial third party. The process is used when the player and the team cannot come to an agreement on a salary for the upcoming season.

Players who are eligible for arbitration are typically players who have more than three years of major league service time but less than six years. They must also have been tendered a contract by their team for the upcoming season.

The arbitration process works as follows:

1. The player and team each submit a proposed salary to the arbitrator.
2. The arbitrator hears arguments from both sides and renders a decision.
3. The decision is binding, meaning that the player must accept the salary that is awarded or cannot play in the major leagues that season.

Players who go through the arbitration process typically see their salaries increase, as teams are often reluctant to lowball their own players in front of an arbitrator. However, there are always exceptions, and some players have seen their salaries decrease after going through arbitration.

The luxury tax

The luxury tax is a surcharge assessed on team payrolls that exceed a specified threshold, which is determined by Major League Baseball’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. The threshold is reset every five years, and the tax rate increases incrementally as team payrolls go over the threshold. For the 2019 season, the luxury tax threshold is $206 million. The tax rates range from 20% to 50% for team payrolls that exceed the threshold by $20 million or more.

The luxury tax is used to fund baseball’s revenue-sharing program, which helps level the playing field between small- and large-market teams. The revenue-sharing program was first introduced in 1997, and it has been credited with helping to create a more competitive landscape in Major League Baseball.

In recent years, the luxury tax has also been used to help fund MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. This program was created in 2002 in response to concerns about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. The luxury tax has helped to finance drug testing and education programs aimed at preventing drug use among MLB players.

How Major League Baseball Players’ Salaries Have Changed Over Time

Major League Baseball players’ salaries have changed a lot over time. In the early days of baseball, players were not paid very much. In fact, some players were paid less than minimum wage. However, as the popularity of baseball grew, so did the salaries of the players. Today, the average salary for a Major League Baseball player is over $4 million.

Average Major League Baseball player’s salary by decade

1910s: $2,500

1920s: $5,000

1930s: $7,500

1940s: $10,000

1950s: $15,000

1960s: $20,000

1970s: $50,000
($100,000 in today’s dollars)

1980s: $100,000
($200,000 in today’s dollars)

1990s: $1 million
($1.4 million in today’s dollars)

2000s: $2.5 million
($3 million in today’s dollars)

2010s: $4 million
($4.2 million in today’s dollars)

Major League Baseball Players’ Salaries Compared to Other Professional Athletes

Major League Baseball players are some of the highest paid athletes in the world. The average salary for a MLB player is $4.36 million. That is almost double the average salary of an NBA player, which is $2.7 million. NBA players make more money on average than MLB players, but that does not mean that all MLB players make less money than all NBA players.

Average National Football League player’s salary

The average NFL player’s salary is $2.7 million per year, according to a 2017 estimate by Bleacher Report. This figure is derived from the reported salaries of 1,696 NFL players, rounded to the nearest thousand. The NFL salary cap for the 2017 season is $167 million per team, or about $10 million per player.

Average National Basketball Association player’s salary

The average NBA player’s salary is $7.7 million per year, according to a report from Hoops Hype. That’s nearly four times the average major league baseball player’s salary of $4 million. But it’s not just basketball players who make more than baseball players. NFL players make an average of $2.7 million per year, while NHL players make an average of $2.4 million per year.

Average Major League Soccer player’s salary

As of 2019, the average salary for a Major League Soccer player is $345,867. This is a significant increase from the $52,000 average in 2007. Major League Soccer is the highest level of professional soccer in the United States and Canada. The league has 26 teams across the two countries, with 23 in the United States and 3 in Canada.