MLB proposes cutting draft to 12 rounds and removing high school eligibility in 2028

Major League Baseball has proposed a sweeping overhaul of its amateur draft system, per FanGraphs, one that would reshape how the sport identifies and acquires young talent beginning in 2028. The proposal would cut the domestic draft from 20 rounds to 12, eliminate high school players from draft eligibility entirely, and reduce the available draft pool by more than 40 percent — from $358.7 million to $200 million.

What happened

Per FanGraphs, MLB put forward the proposal late last week. Under the plan, a player would need to be at least 20 years old and at minimum two years removed from high school before becoming draft eligible. That effectively closes the door on the prep-to-pro pipeline that has produced a significant share of the sport's top talent for generations.

The eligibility rules for college players would also shift. Currently, a player at a four-year college cannot be drafted unless he turns 21 by August 1 of his draft year or completes his third year of college. MLB's proposal would move that age cutoff date back to September 1, making most four-year college players eligible a year earlier than they are now.

Players who choose to attend a junior college would face a stricter path under the proposal. Where the current system requires only one year at a JUCO before a player becomes draft eligible, the new framework would require both seasons. The effect, per FanGraphs, is that the JUCO route would no longer function as a one-year detour to draft eligibility.

Why it matters

The financial dimension of this proposal is hard to overstate. More than 40 percent of the dollars currently available in the draft pool would be eliminated, per FanGraphs — a reduction from $358.7 million to $200 million. That is not a trim; it is a structural compression of the money available to the players who enter the draft.

The round reduction from 20 to 12 compounds that effect. Fewer rounds mean fewer players drafted, which means more amateur talent either going undrafted or entering the professional system through other channels. The players most directly affected by the round cut are those who would have been selected in the rounds that no longer exist under the proposal — a tier that historically includes both late-blooming prospects and college seniors who use a draft slot as a professional entry point.

The high school eligibility change is the most structurally significant piece. The prep draft has long been the mechanism by which clubs secure the highest-ceiling talent at the lowest developmental cost — players who can be developed through the minor-league system and controlled through their arbitration years before reaching free agency. Removing that pathway entirely would force clubs to wait until players meet the new age and time-out-of-high-school thresholds, which in practice means most of that talent would flow through college programs or some other developmental structure.

What that alternative structure looks like is not addressed in the proposal as reported by FanGraphs. The international side of the proposal is referenced in the piece but the details were not fully reported, leaving that portion of the picture incomplete.

Why the pool number is the center of gravity

The draft pool figures are the clearest signal of what this proposal would mean in practice. The most recent pool stood at $358.7 million, per FanGraphs. MLB's proposal would reduce that to $200 million — a cut of more than 40 percent. That figure will almost certainly be the center of any collective bargaining friction the proposal generates, because it represents the total dollars available to amateur players entering the professional game through the domestic draft.

The round reduction from 20 to 12 is the other hard number in the proposal. Eight fewer rounds means eight fewer rounds of players receiving professional contracts through the draft. The downstream effects on roster construction, minor-league depth, and the undrafted free agent market are real, but they are also speculative at this stage — the proposal is a proposal, not a ratified change, and the 2028 timeline leaves considerable room for negotiation.

Where the club stands

The Philadelphia Phillies carry an 88-74 record, good for second place in the NL East, six games back, and are eliminated from the division race. They enter the week on a one-game winning streak, with a three-game series at Washington's Nationals Park on the schedule. Tim Mayza is the reported probable for Monday against Foster Griffin, Jesús Luzardo is lined up for Tuesday opposite PJ Poulin, and Aaron Nola is slated for Wednesday against Carson Palmquist.

The Phillies' connection to this story is the same as every other club's: a proposal of this magnitude, if it were ever to take effect, would alter how every organization builds its pipeline. The clubs that have leaned most heavily on high school talent in recent drafts would face the sharpest adjustment. Whether Philadelphia falls into that category is not addressed in the FanGraphs report.

What we don't know yet

The proposal is a proposal. FanGraphs reported it as MLB putting this framework forward, not as a ratified change or a collectively bargained agreement. The players' union has not been reported as accepting, rejecting, or responding to the specifics. The international side of the proposal was referenced in the FanGraphs piece but not fully detailed, which means a meaningful portion of the overall framework remains unreported.

The 2028 start date gives both sides time — time to negotiate, time to modify, and time for the proposal to look entirely different by the time any agreement is reached. Whether the high school eligibility change survives in its current form, whether the pool reduction lands at $200 million or somewhere else, and whether the JUCO two-year requirement makes it through bargaining are all open questions.

FanGraphs also raises the question of what happens to the talent that currently enters the draft out of high school if this proposal takes effect. That population does not disappear; it redirects. Where it goes — college programs, independent leagues, international leagues, some new developmental structure — is not answered by the proposal as reported.

What to watch

The players' union's response is the next meaningful data point. A proposal that cuts the draft pool by more than 40 percent and eliminates an entire category of draft-eligible players is not a minor adjustment; it is a foundational change to how amateur players enter professional baseball and how much money is available to them when they do. The union's position on that financial reduction will shape whether this proposal moves forward in anything resembling its current form.

The college baseball community will also be watching closely. Moving the four-year college eligibility cutoff to September 1 accelerates the timeline for most college players, which has implications for how programs recruit, how players plan their college careers, and how coaches manage rosters when their best players become eligible a year earlier than expected. That is a significant secondary effect of a proposal that is primarily being discussed in terms of the draft pool and the high school eligibility change.

The 2028 target date is far enough away that the next collective bargaining cycle will almost certainly intersect with it. This proposal, as reported by FanGraphs, is the opening position in what figures to be a lengthy negotiation — not the final word.