HOW THE MAJORS HAVE CHANGED FOR YOUNG PLAYERS

In a press release, the players' union praised the new CBA by saying that it "provides fairer wages to players at all points of their careers." Age has become a top consideration of the MLBPA because age has become a top consideration for MLB organizations when evaluating free agents.
This past offseason made clear that age is definitely not just a number to front offices. Not when 25-year-old foreign professionals Yoshinobu Yamamoto and JungHoo Lee signed two of the four most lucrative contracts in their free agent class.
Players as young as Yamamoto and Lee almost never hit the traditional MLB free agent market. In fact, most players who sign out of the draft or as international amateurs do not qualify for free agency for the first time until they are approaching 30.
So with salaries for 30-something free agents declining, the MLBPA sought to make the payment structure more equitable for players in their 20s.
That's because for years before they qualify for free agency, young MLB players have their salary constrained for as many as seven seasons-first by the MLB minimum and then by arbitration. That's why the players' union endeavored to channel more money to young players in the 2022 CBA by way of four initiatives.
The MLB minimum salary rose from $570,500 in 2021 to $700,000 in 2022. It increases in $20,000 increments each season through 2026.
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