‘It’s life-changing’: How minor leaguers came together and doubled their pay
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Jeff PassanESPN
DESCRIBING LIFE IN the minor leagues can sound like a twisted Mad Lib. The names and locations and adjectives may change, but for generations, the details of the climb to Major League Baseball have remained mortifying. The poverty. The working conditions. The food. The third-class nature of the entire operation. Now, after decades of mistreatment, of being told they were mere apprentices, the people who had given their young lives to the game were in a position to tell those running it who they were and why they mattered.
In January, at the MLB Players Association’s offices high atop the New York City skyline, Matthew Peguero told MLB officials his version of the story. He was from the Dominican Republic and signed with the Tampa Bay Rays. He came to the United States as a teenager not knowing English. He sent the pittance he received — a couple hundred dollars a week during the season without any pay in the offseason or spring training — home to support his family. He struggled to survive.
It was the same story relayed by Andres Angulo, who came from Colombia at 16 years old and spent four years in rookie ball. He saw countless friends who had forgone an education to chase a life in baseball released at 18 with no money, no skills, no job prospects — a dream turned nightmare. These stories and more were shared during in-person bargaining sessions on a landmark first collective-bargaining agreement for minor league players, who described their struggle to understand how an $11 billion-a-year industry could so disregard the mental and physical well-being of its next generation of players.
“If you didn’t sign for $50,000 or more, life in the minor leagues was unsustainable,” said Trevor Hildenberger, a relief pitcher who spent four years in the major leagues and, as he tries to claw his way back, took a leadership role in the unionization of minor league players. “It was just a ticking clock. Either you couldn’t afford to pursue this anymore or you made it to the big leagues.”
This was no narrative. The reality was too real for MLB to ignore anymore. Players were coming forward, social media had delivered their stories to the masses, and though every collective bargaining agreement is little more than an exercise in wealth distribution, MLB couldn’t discount what players were saying: Baseball’s development system was a moral abomination, and this was the opportunity to fix it
For five months, the league and the union, formed under the umbrella of the MLB Players Association, worked toward a deal. After more than three dozen bargaining sessions, they landed on an agreement that more than doubled pay for all players. The union fought for more guaranteed rights, from improved housing and transportation to enhanced medical privileges and health benefits. The league, after settling a class-action minimum-wage and overtime claim from players for $185 million in August, received the ability to manage roster sizes and protection from future wage suits, with any cases to go instead through the arbitration process. Owners approved the deal unanimously Monday; days earlier, 99% of the thousands of players voting had backed it.
In conversations with ESPN, more than a dozen people, from players to employees of the league and union, outlined how a once-unthinkable deal came together with shocking rapidity. Players, tired of the status quo, sought to forge a new one. The league, reeling from bad publicity, committed upward of $100 million yearly to fix its mistakes. By no means is the deal, which will last five years, perfect. But because of it, those involved said, no longer is minor league life a black mark for baseball.
“It was just so clear,” Hildenberger said, “what was right and what was wrong.”
DURING MLB’s 99-DAY lockout of major league players after the 2021 season, Kumar Nambiar spent his days in Jupiter, Florida, training at Cressey Sports Performance. Nambiar marveled at the players surrounding him there. He had pitched at Yale for four years, gone to the Oakland A’s in the 34th round of the 2019 draft and climbed to High-A on the strength of a changeup that dove from his left hand. And here he was, side-by-side with big leaguers trying to stay sharp as the contentious negotiations unfolded.
One day, Nambiar noticed a familiar face: Max Scherzer, the three-time Cy Young Award winner and future Hall of Famer who over the winter had signed for a record $43.3 million a year with the New York Mets. Scherzer also was one of eight executive-board members of the MLBPA, and every day, he would update players at Cressey of the latest goings-on in negotiations with a message on a whiteboard. Nambiar introduced himself to Scherzer and thanked him for his work trying to secure a new deal. Scherzer took the opportunity to educate Nambiar on the process.
“Hearing him talk about this and how important it was inspired me,” Nambiar said. “Before that, I didn’t really understand what the players’ association did. I didn’t know the negotiations, the past bargaining.”
Nambiar wasn’t alone. Despite the 100-plus years of the minor leagues’ existence, the MLBPA had shown no interest in forming a minor league unit. The prospect of organizing more than 5,000 minor league players was too daunting even for a union as renowned as the MLBPA.
Social media changed that, as did the work of a group called Advocates for Minor Leaguers, led by a former minor league pitcher-turned-lawyer Harry Marino. The stories of a half-dozen players cramming into a two-bedroom apartment resonated with the public. Tyler Cyr, a reliever at Triple-A for the San Francisco Giants, posted on Twitter his final pay stub of the 2019 season. The amount received was $165 — and $8,216.58 for the whole year.
A real turning point came in 2020, when, before caving to public pressure, teams were not paying minor league players during the pandemic shutdown.
“The importance of that can’t be understated,” Hildenberger said. “A lot of guys were in need of help, and owners didn’t want to pay anyone their salaries. That opened a lot of guys’ eyes.”
Inspired by their stories, Marino’s organization had begun the herculean task of organizing players. Advocates identified potential leaders and encouraged them to serve as conduits to the entire player population. After MLB took over control of the minor leagues before the 2020 season and reduced the number of affiliated teams from 162 to 120, players grew even more emboldened.
They pushed for organizations to provide housing, and MLB acceded before the 2022 season. That, players said, was a good first step, but dozens of other issues — none more than their salaries — needed remedying. The settlement in Senne v. MLB, the lawsuit that alleged players had been underpaid by hundreds of millions of dollars, inspired even more players.
Roused by Scherzer and the work of Marino and his cohort, Nambiar last year went and bought “Lords of the Realm,” the John Helyar book on the history of labor relations in baseball, which told the story of the player revolution that changed the landscape of professional sports. Throughout the season, he talked about the future of minor league labor with Jared McDonald, his teammate in the A’s. On a late-night bus ride in early September, McDonald, who had aligned with Advocates as it embarked on a union drive, retreated to the back to deliver news that stunned his teammates, Nambiar included.
“Guys, it’s happening,” McDonald said. “We’re unionizing.”
That month, the MLBPA absorbed Advocates and sent union-authorization cards to players, who overwhelmingly voted in favor of forming a minor league unit. Any fear that MLB would challenge the formation of the union wound up to be unfounded; within days, the league voluntarily recognized the minor league unit. And about a month later, on Oct. 27, the MLBPA made its opening presentation to MLB.
The goal from the beginning was clear: The players wanted a deal by Opening Day 2023. Because they had no intentions to strike, their leverage was minimal. And yet that didn’t worry them. For all the animus between MLB and the MLBPA, all the bad blood left over from the major league lockout, minor league players still believed that they were on the right side of history — and that with the right framing, MLB would see it, too.
CRAFTING THE STORIES they told the league would require a deft touch. It couldn’t be all horror — things such as the tale of the teammates who took their paltry per diems on an off-day, went to a local pet store, bought a rabbit, killed it, cooked it and ate it for dinner that night. Finding a balance between complaining about what they didn’t have and bargaining for what they wanted was exceedingly thin. So in late November, the union invited dozens of players to the Phoenix area for a strategizing session.
Players of all walks gathered. There were former big leaguers such as Hildenberger and Ivy League graduates such as Nambiar and representatives such as Angel Basabe, a Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder born in Venezuela and raised in Panama, helping speak for the half of minor leaguers from Latin America. They traded experiences, which served a dual purpose: to give the MLBPA a foundation upon which to ask for change, and to learn more about one another so they could achieve the solidarity necessary for a union to succeed.
“What’s important for me is important for all of us: Get something that is fair, that we deserve,” Basabe said. “I’m a Latin player, so I can be the example for a lot of situations that were not right.”
The two days in Phoenix emboldened the players and narrowed their priorities. Higher salaries were the clear No. 1 objective. Even after the league bumped salaries slightly in 2021, Triple-A players with no major league service maxed out at $17,500 per year, Double-A players at $13,800, A-ball players at $11,000 and rookie-league players at $4,800. The lack of offseason pay forced players into an impossible choice: spend the winter getting a job to make ends meet, or train so they could improve their game before the next spring. The players coalesced around their shared past, taking the emotions built up in Phoenix onto player-only Zoom calls and into the bargaining room.
“I felt so much more comfortable speaking to these guys who I knew understood what we were fighting for,” Hildenberger said. “That was a very powerful feeling. In college, you play with your best friends and you’re trying to get to Omaha. When you’re all pulling toward the same goal and achieving that, it’s the best feeling in the world. To do it on a wider scale with 60 guys in the room and 150 on Zoom, and representing more than 5,000 people who we knew deserved better, instilled me with a lot of hope.”
The union outlined dozens of asks to the league throughout December, as it delivered all of the initial proposals, and the league offered its first response in writing Jan. 12. Five days later, MLB delivered another proposal, this one addressing salaries for the first time. Bruce Meyer, the union’s lead negotiator, had warned players in Phoenix not to be alarmed by it — that the most important elements of the negotiation would come in the final two weeks of talks. In Meyer, the union had “someone who would stand up for us,” Nambiar said, even as MLB’s negotiating team — led by deputy commissioner Dan Halem and Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort — pushed back. Union executive director Tony Clark had spent considerable time in the meetings, too, with Marino playing a vital role and general counsel Matt Nussbaum helping map out strategy, while Patrick Houlihan, Peter Woodfork and Kasey Sanossian did the same for MLB.
A big breakthrough came in January, when the sides agreed that players would be salaried and compensation would be delivered for almost the entirety of the year. In addition to a bump in pay during the season, players would receive weekly checks during early- and late-offseason periods as well as spring training. The early success story heartened players and illustrated that the league was approaching the negotiations in good faith.
Throughout January, the sides hashed out other issues. Would players, the league wondered, consider dropping team-provided housing for higher salaries? No, players said. There was comfort in stability, and dealing with the vagaries of finding a short-term apartment rental diverged with the focus vital to a big league ascent. Would the league, players asked, consider termination pay for those released by teams? No, MLB said. That was a nonstarter.
Negotiations moved at a steady pace throughout January and February, with players going to New York City to participate — Hildenberger and Basabe flew in for sessions, and Nambiar, who lives in Westchester County, New York, attended regularly. On Feb. 16, the sides finalized the first of what would be nearly 30 tentative agreements on individual issues, with the signatures of Marino and Sannosian formalizing a two-page document. In it, teams agreed to provide players with “two full, nutritious meals of high quality” — one pregame, one postgame — every day during the season. The union and league would form a joint committee to address any nutrition complaints from players, whose per diem would rise from $25 to $30.
Collective bargaining agreements — particularly ones being drawn up from scratch — don’t happen overnight, and as the players left in late February for spring training, their participation would be limited to Zoom calls. March had arrived, and Opening Day was set for the 30th. The two-week window Meyer had talked about was fast approaching. The league said it was fine starting the season without a deal, but everyone involved understood: That outcome would be the latest disaster in a minor league history laden with them.
BY MID-MARCH, the sides were dug in with scant progress over the previous two weeks. Players wanted to push salaries past the point of comfort for MLB. The league wanted the unilateral ability to set the Domestic Reserve List, which governs the number of players a team can roster at its four minor league affiliates and Arizona or Florida complexes. The key issues for both parties were clear, and if past negotiations in the major leagues were any indication, they’d save them for the end.
Eventually, bit by bit, the makings of a deal came together. On March 14, they reached a tentative agreement on housing rules to be implemented at latest by 2024, giving Triple-A and Double-A players their own rooms and offering special dispensations for players with children, who are guaranteed at least two-bedroom apartments. Players at all levels would continue to receive free housing. A week later, after heated discussions over transportation to and from the stadium for players without cars, MLB agreed to provide rides for players in A-ball and rookie ball to and from all games.
One day later came an agreement on a grievance system that would cover discipline, a domestic violence policy and a joint drug-and-treatment program. The day after that, a pact on a no-strike, no-lockout provision. Then more: players receiving name, image and likeness privileges for the union to use in group licensing; the right to a second opinion on medical decisions, as well as free medical, dental and vision care; $2.5 million a year from the league to be distributed to players’ 401(k)s; and the reduction of the reserve — the amount of years a team owns a player’s rights in the minor leagues — from seven years to six for all future union members.
With each tentative agreement, the confidence in both sides grew. As loath as players were to give full control to MLB on the Domestic Reserve List, they found a compromise in its reduction from 180 players to 165. The agreement didn’t sit well with some players, who worry about the loss of more jobs after the contraction of 40-plus teams three years ago. The league countered with data that showed over the previous two years, teams on average had 166 players on their rosters — and in the end, the players decided that what they would get in return was worth the winnowing.
In its best and final offer March 29, the league agreed to bump Triple-A minimum salaries from $17,500 to $35,800, Double-A from $13,800 to $30,250, High-A from $11,000 to $27,300, Low-A from $11,000 to $26,200 and rookie league from $4,800 to $19,800. (Players in the Dominican Summer League, who are not part of the union, will not receive similar raises.) Further, the league agreed to supply back pay for spring training this year and will pay players for all but a six-week period between late November and Jan. 1. Offseason pay is a minimum of $250 a week and $375 extra a week for those who attend team-led winter training, such as instructional league, or rehabilitation at team complexes. Slight raises accompanied the last three years of the offer.
It was enough for the players. The leaders, on a Zoom call, were thrilled. And relieved. The past half-year had tested their patience and willingness to trust that the league would right its wrongs. And though there remains plenty to improve — ensuring more jobs aren’t lost, higher salaries, better benefits — the deal addressed enough key issues that player leadership approved it happily.
“With the offseason payment, now we can focus on baseball,” Basabe said. “I know [the rank and file] are grateful. We’re making changes. This is history.”
Word spread quickly among players, and within 24 hours of sending out the deal to a vote, the returns were nearly unanimous. The agreement was for everyone, from Basabe and Hildenberger and Nambiar to Matthew Peguero and Andres Angulo and the thousands of others who were lucky enough to play a game for a living but warranted dignity as they did so.
The story of life in the minor leagues, painful in many ways, had carried them to a better place.
“It’s life-changing for a lot of people now,” Nambiar said, “and for generations going forward.”
Three weeks into the new MLB season, there’s a new No. 1 on our list.
After being a unanimous choice atop our preseason rankings, the Los Angeles Dodgers have fallen from the top spot thanks to a recent rough patch (by their standards) combined with the strong performances of other National League powerhouses.
Was it the New York Mets, San Diego Padres or San Francisco Giants who replaced the defending champions atop our Week 3 Power Rankings? Which other teams off to surprising starts surged up our list? And who took the biggest April tumbles?
Our expert panel has combined to rank every team based on a combination of what we’ve seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts Jorge Castillo, Buster Olney and Jesse Rogers to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Week 2 | Week 1 | Preseason rankings
Record: 15-4
Previous ranking: 3
San Diego finally lost at home this week, but the Padres’ advantage at Petco Park shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s become a more raucous environment than ever, a destination for fans who want to see a pitching staff that so far has compiled the lowest home ERA in the game and a lineup that ranks eighth in home OPS. Fernando Tatis Jr., in particular, must like the sight lines there this year; he has an OPS over 1.100 at Petco Park. San Diego has established a home environment all smaller market teams should strive for, and the Padres are winning plenty to keep fans coming back for more. — Rogers
Record: 14-6
Previous ranking: 1
How much fun is Tommy Edman? Through Tuesday’s games, he is tied for the major league lead with six home runs. Yes, even if it’s for a moment in time, Edman has one more long ball than his teammate Shohei Ohtani, all while playing solid defense, both at second base and center field. Edman led the Dodgers last week with an OPS over .900 while Ohtani was experiencing a mini slump, especially during a weekend series loss to the Cubs. Edman remained hot with a four-hit performance against Colorado on Tuesday. He has yet to go hitless in consecutive games this season. — Rogers
Record: 11-7
Previous ranking: 4
Juan Soto was right: Pete Alonso isn’t Aaron Judge, the best hitter in the world and the American League MVP in two of the past three campaigns. But Alonso has been doing his best impression. The first baseman is slashing .356/.466/.729 with five home runs, 20 RBIs and 11 walks to 10 strikeouts hitting behind Soto through Tuesday. Alonso’s 1.195 OPS and 242 OPS+ lead the National League. His hard-hit rate is in the 100th percentile. His average exit velocity and barrel rate sit in the 99th percentile. He already has posted more than half of his fWAR total from last season (1.3 to 2.1). Opponents have mostly opted to pitch around Soto and attack Alonso, but that changed in Minnesota this week when Soto clubbed home runs on consecutive days. It makes for a dangerous recipe. — Castillo
Record: 13-5
Previous ranking: 8
The Giants are rolling, thanks in part to outfielder Jung Hoo Lee. He seems to be coming into his own during his second season in San Francisco, highlighted by a two-homer performance in New York over the weekend. He leads the league in doubles (10) while slugging .647. One thing he is doing particularly well is not letting mistake pitches get by him; instead, he is doing max damage on those pitches, hence all the slug. He already has more than double the number of extra-base hits this season in less than half the at-bats he had all of last year. — Rogers
Record: 10-8
Previous ranking: 2
Alec Bohm notched four hits and a walk in the Phillies’ first two games this season. In 15 games since, the third baseman has gone 8-for-64 with one extra-base hit (a double) and zero walks, an icy stretch that dropped him to eighth in the batting order against the Giants this week. Bohm enjoyed a breakout first half last season, which resulted in his first All-Star nod. But he stumbled down the stretch, culminating in getting benched in the NLDS against the Mets and rampant trade rumors over the offseason. Bohm is batting .228 with four home runs and a .599 OPS in 65 games since the start of last season’s second half. Continued struggles could result in less playing time with Edmundo Sosa pushing for more starts. — Castillo
Record: 12-9
Previous ranking: 6
Losing pitcher Justin Steele to a season-ending elbow injury is a tough early blow. The Cubs do have some pitching depth, but no one as reliable as Steele is. Replacements for the role include veteran right-hander Colin Rea — he threw 3⅔ shutout innings against the Dodgers on Sunday — and young left-hander Jordan Wicks.
Highly touted pitching prospect Cade Horton could also find his way to the majors in the coming month and Chicago’s front office will hit the phone lines as well, calling on potential trade targets like Marlins star Sandy Alcantara. For now, though, expect the Cubs to look inward. — Rogers
Record: 11-7
Previous ranking: 5
The Yankees’ starting rotation, a projected strength entering spring training, has been a weakness after injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt gutted the group. The rotation’s 4.98 ERA through Tuesday was the third-worst mark in the majors. Max Fried has pitched as advertised, posting a 1.88 ERA in his four starts, but Will Warren’s 5.14 ERA ranks second. Schmidt’s return from a shoulder injury this week should bolster the rotation, but the Yankees need Carlos Rodon (5.48 ERA, 12 walks in 23 innings across four starts) to be better in the third year of his six-year, $162 million contract. — Castillo
Record: 11-7
Previous ranking: 10
Offense, offense, offense. Arizona is becoming known for a relentless attack. After leading the majors in run scoring last season, the Diamondbacks are off to a hot start again, just behind the Cubs as the second-most prolific team in the NL. Outfielder Corbin Carroll is back to the elite form he displayed when he was named Rookie of the Year in 2023. And he has carried over a hot finish to 2024, hitting a league-leading six home runs, including a grand slam in Miami on Tuesday. Carroll’s output has helped mitigate the loss of second baseman Ketel Marte, who should be back soon. There’s no reason not to believe the D-backs’ offense will continue to lead them all year. — Rogers
Record: 10-8
Previous ranking: 12
Kerry Carpenter clubbed 18 homers in 264 at-bats last season, and then hit a memorable three-run homer against Emmanuel Clase in the postseason. Opposing managers have been saving left-handed relievers to face him, but here is some bad news for the opposition — the left-handed slugger’s production is climbing against lefties, too. He’s got two homers off lefties this season, which is one more than he had all of 2024. — Olney
Record: 11-7
Previous ranking: 7
If all you looked at were the offensive numbers, the Rangers’ record would make zero sense. Three key guys — Marcus Semien, Joc Pederson and Jake Burger — all carry on-base percentages of .220 or lower, and the deep lineup of mashers really hasn’t come together yet. But the starting pitching has been really good, with Texas’ rotation ERA of 3.45 ranked seventh in the majors.
Bruce Bochy noted in a text the progression of the pitching — Jacob deGrom still refining his command, Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle have thrown well, and the hope is that Jack Leiter — “really impressive,” Bochy wrote — is past his blister issue and will rejoin the rotation. — Olney
Record: 9-8
Previous ranking: 22
It’s too soon to know whether Emmanuel Clase’s brutal start is temporary, but the struggle is real right now. He has already allowed more earned runs (6) than he did for the entire 2024 regular season, and he surrendered 15 hits in eight innings. As he dominated hitters last year, Clase pitched with precision, but so far this year, his raw stuff seems flat and he’s just leaving a lot over the middle of the zone. Interestingly, his first-pitch strike rate is a career-high 75.7%, and it’s fair to wonder if he’s throwing too many strikes. — Olney
Record: 8-10
Previous ranking: 16
Junior Caminero homered in three straight games and compiled three hits in another over the past week. But lesser-known Jonathan Aranda has been the Rays’ best hitter — and the best hitter against right-handed pitching across the sport. The 26-year-old first baseman entered Wednesday leading the majors in batting average (.413), slugging (.761), and OPS (1.242) facing almost exclusively right-handers in 15 games. And the underlying numbers suggest the production isn’t a fluke: He ranks in the 96th percentile or better across the majors in barrel rate, hard-hit rate and average exit velocity among other categories. Aranda is 0-for-4 with two walks in seven plate appearances against left-handed pitchers so he’s likely to remain a platoon player for now, but he is capitalizing on his chances against righties after an injury-plagued 2024 season postponed his breakout. — Castillo
Record: 11-8
Previous ranking: 17
For a team with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander, the Blue Jays have not hit the ball over the wall very often. Toronto’s 11 home runs through Tuesday were tied for the second-lowest total in baseball. Toronto’s 12 home runs through Wednesday are tied for the third-lowest total in baseball. Guerrero didn’t hit his first homer until Toronto’s 19th game Wednesday when he crushed a hanging slider from Spencer Strider. Bo Bichette is still looking for his first long ball.
Andres Giménez, who hit nine home runs last season in Cleveland, leads the club with three. Santander, who clubbed 44 home runs for the Orioles in 2024, went 15 games before homering as a Blue Jay. And yet Toronto is over .500 — a great sign for a club looking to rebound from last season’s last-place finish. — Castillo
Record: 10-10
Previous ranking: 9
Boston’s lineup is as deep as any in baseball on paper, but it has been a boom-or-bust unit so far. On Tuesday, for example, Alex Bregman went 5-for-5 with a double and two home runs in a 7-4 win over the Rays. Before that, the Red Sox were held to four or fewer runs in eight straight games after an 18-run explosion against the Cardinals on April 6. Boston has scored one run in five games and been limited to three or fewer runs in 11 games through Tuesday. It’s why they emerged from Tuesday’s win one game below .500. — Castillo
Record: 9-9
Previous ranking: 19
Julio Rodriguez isn’t on top of any American League leaderboard, but within the context of league-wide pitching dominance, he’s actually doing more at the plate early this season than he has in the past. His wRC+ is 113 and his patience at the plate has been striking: He already has drawn 11 bases on balls, with a walk rate that doubles that of last season. “He’s been as aggressive as he’s always been, especially early in the count,” said Jerry Dipoto, the Mariners’ head of baseball operations. “But the biggest difference to me is that he gets himself dialed back in.” — Olney
Record: 8-11
Previous ranking: 14
The Kansas City offense has a collective slash line of .206/.274/.308, but at the very least, Bobby Witt Jr. is hitting. He’s 10-for-20 over his past six games, with three walks and four strikeouts. The lack of production from the outfielders continues to be an issue: The Royals’ outfielders have a wRC+ of 51, which seems impossibly low. They had two homers in 187 plate appearances. In a related note, star prospect Jac Caglianone has a .290/.356/.579 slash line in Double-A, with all of his starts at first base. — Olney
Record: 9-9
Previous ranking: 20
The Reds finally pushed past the .500 mark earlier this week behind the strength of a pitching staff that dominated during a four-game win streak, surrendering just 16 hits in 36 innings. They allowed just nine runs (2.25 ERA) over that time frame with a minuscule 0.81 WHIP. Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott shined in the rotation while the bullpen, led by righty Emilio Pagan, was stellar. — Rogers
Record: 5-13
Previous ranking: 15
Not much has gone right for the Braves so far in 2025, but Spencer Strider‘s season debut against the Blue Jays on Wednesday qualifies as a resounding positive. Besides giving up an RBI single and a solo home run to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the right-hander held the Blue Jays in check over five-plus innings in his first major league start in more than a year. Strider finished with 10 strikeouts, including a vintage three-pitch strikeout of Bo Bichette to begin the outing, and became the fastest starting pitcher to 500 career strikeouts. He walked two, limited Toronto to three hits and threw 97 pitches. Most importantly, he looked uninhibited. — Castillo
Record: 10-9
Previous ranking: 18
Are the Brewers this year’s Jekyll and Hyde? They’re all over the place, giving up seven or more runs in a third of their games while also compiling four shutouts, second most in baseball. Their latest shutout came thanks to recent pickup Quinn Priester. Milwaukee acquired him from the Red Sox a week into the season — usually marking an inventory/depth addition — but Priester could end up being the move of the year. He has given up just one earned run in two starts: a solid performance at hitter-friendly Coors Field last week followed by five shutout innings against the Tigers on Tuesday. Milwaukee is looking for some consistency on the mound. Could Priester provide it? — Rogers
Record: 7-10
Previous ranking: 11
Orioles general manager Mike Elias met with reporters Tuesday and maintained he believes his club is a playoff team. Baltimore then lost to the Guardians to fall to 6-10. The Orioles’ offense, rightly heralded for its premier young talent, has been inconsistent, but that should improve. The bigger problem is the starting pitching. The Orioles’ rotation ranks last in the majors in ERA. Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez and Albert Suarez, all projected starters during spring training, are on the injured list while Kyle Bradish isn’t expected to return from Tommy John surgery until the second half. Starting pitching was the concern entering the season after Baltimore failed to replace Corbin Burnes with another front-line starter. And it has so far played out as expected. — Castillo
Record: 8-10
Previous ranking: 13
Jim Crane’s instinct will be to hold his team together and push to make the playoffs for the ninth season in a row, and for the 10th time in the last 11 years. But without Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, the challenges are greater. Yordan Alvarez is off to a slow start, and the AL West is more competitive than it was a season ago.
If the Astros do drift from contention, there will be teams calling on Framber Valdez, who will be eligible for free agency in the fall. The Tucker trade seemed to signal a greater willingness to identify deals that will help to turn over the roster and build around the likes of Hunter Brown, Yainer Diaz and Cam Smith. — Olney
Record: 9-8
Previous ranking: 21
The Angels are the AL’s biggest surprise so far, and given their struggles of last season, you could understand why rival executives aren’t buying in yet. But there are ways in which the team is clearly distinguishing itself from the ’24 edition, and of course, that starts with the right fielder.
“Mike Trout is still Mike Trout and as long as we have his presence, we have a chance,” manager Ron Washington wrote in a text.
Washington also noted that the youngest Angels are benefitting from the experience of last year – Nolan Schanuel has an .856 OPS, Kyren Paris is impressing and Logan O’Hoppe has an early-season OPS near 1.000. — Olney
Record: 9-9
Previous ranking: 23
Even with Ivan Herrera missing time with a knee injury, Cardinals catchers still lead the league with six home runs and a lofty .329 batting average through Tuesday. Backups Pedro Pages and Yohel Pozo have held their own in Herrera’s absence. Pozo made headlines after coming up from Triple-A as he collected five hits — including two doubles and a home run — in his first three games. The longtime minor leaguer had not seen time in the majors since 2021 when he played in 21 games for the Texas Rangers. Over 1,000 minor league games later, he’s been an unexpected surprise in St. Louis. — Rogers
Record: 7-12
Previous ranking: 24
What is happening in Minnesota is the worst-case scenario — a slow start for a team that did very little to improve over the winter after failing to make the playoffs last season. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton are both batting under .200, at a time when Royce Lewis is on the injured list, and Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack have allowed 26 earned runs in 29 1/3 innings. The weather is always an early-season X factor for the Twins, but hey, a lot of teams have had to play in brutal conditions in the first weeks, and only two AL teams have a worse run differential so far. — Olney
Record: 8-9
Previous ranking: 28
Who had the rebuilding Marlins playing .500 ball through 16 games this season? The team’s relative success probably won’t last much longer, but Miami has held its own through 10% of the regular season.
First baseman Matt Mervis is fueling the offense with five home runs and a 1.009 OPS through Tuesday. Shortstop Xavier Edwards, coming off an impressive 70-game sample last season, is batting over .300 again. Right-hander Max Meyer was impressive in his first three starts, holding opponents to four earned runs across 18 innings.
Chances are the Marlins will sink back down to the basement of the loaded NL East, but this start constitutes a step in the right direction. — Castillo
Record: 8-10
Previous ranking: 25
The early returns on the ballpark in Sacramento are that it’s like Coors Field California. The A’s have the worst home-field ERA, at 5.89, and the 1.56 home runs allowed per game is the fourth-worst ratio in the big leagues. Or maybe those numbers are rooted in a small-sample size of rough pitching performances. — Olney
Record: 7-11
Previous ranking: 26
How bad has the Nationals’ bullpen been this season? Bad enough for manager Dave Martinez to summon his relievers to his office for a meeting before Tuesday’s game against the Pirates. Two Nationals relievers then combined to toss two scoreless innings in a 3-0 win, which qualifies as significant progress for a group that ranks last in the majors in ERA (7.21) and WHIP (1.89). — Castillo
Record: 7-12
Previous ranking: 27
Stop us if you’re heard this one before: The Pirates are having trouble scoring runs. It’s a rinse-and-repeat scenario for the Buccos, who hit just .185 as a team last week (which, incredibly, was not the lowest batting average in MLB). That was low enough to help produce a 2-5 record for Pittsburgh, which sits in last place in the NL Central. The Pirates’ overall team OPS ranks last in the NL and 29th in baseball, and that puts a tremendous strain on their young pitching staff. — Rogers
Record: 4-13
Previous ranking: 30
Andrew Vaughn has generated some ugly numbers so far this season, with a .131 batting average and two home runs in his first 61 at-bats. But the White Sox feel like he’s actually swung the bat better than those numbers indicate — Vaughn is hitting just .132 on balls in play, and he is 54th among 132 hitters in adjusted exit velocity. Whether Vaughn’s early production has been nicked by bad weather, or bad luck, the White Sox anticipate better days ahead for the first baseman. — Olney
Record: 3-15
Previous ranking: 29
Let’s try to find one positive thing about the Rockies, who went 1-7 over the course of the week, from last Tuesday to this one. Here it is: In their lone win — a 7-2 victory over Milwaukee last Thursday — outfielder Brenton Doyle went 4-for-5 with five runs driven in while scoring twice. Doyle, just 26, has an OPS over .900 (through Tuesday) that includes three home runs and a batting average over .300. See? It can be done. It just takes some looking to find the good in Colorado. A younger group of players might provide more positives this summer, but it won’t show up in the standings any time soon. — Rogers
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Eli Lederman
Former South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez, one of the top passers in the spring transfer portal, has committed to North Carolina, he announced on social media Thursday.
The No. 6 available transfer in ESPN’s spring portal rankings, Lopez lands as an immediate front-runner to claim the Tar Heels’ starting quarterback job under first-year coach Bill Belichick. Per sources, Lopez will join North Carolina on a two-year, $4 million contract with three seasons of remaining eligibility after a breakout redshirt freshman season in 2024.
Lopez entered the transfer portal earlier this week two days after completing spring camp with South Alabama. His commitment formally closes the Tar Heels’ lengthy search for a quarterback since Belichick took over the program in December.
Sources said that Lopez initially considered an exit from South Alabama during the winter transfer portal window before opting to remain with the program. He stayed with the Jaguars through spring practices and took part in the program’s spring showcase Saturday, but transfer portal interest from major Power 4 programs persisted in the lead-up to the spring window.
Sources told ESPN that Georgia and LSU held discussions with Lopez this spring, each with an eye on giving him a chance to compete for a starting spot in 2026. According to sources, North Carolina initiated contact with Lopez’s camp in March and continued talks through Thursday, when Lopez finalized his deal with general manager Michael Lombardi and the Tar Heels.
North Carolina entered Belichick’s first spring camp with three quarterbacks on the roster — Max Johnson, Ryan Browne and incoming freshman Bryce Baker.
Browne, a former Purdue transfer, entered the portal earlier this week. Baker, ESPN’s No. 200 recruit in the 2025 cycle, remains with the Tar Heels after affirming his commitment following coach Mack Brown’s departure. Johnson, a 23-game starter, returns in 2025 after suffering a season-ending leg injury in Week 1 last fall.
A 6-foot-2, 220-pound dual-threat, Lopez emerged as one of the most productive Group of 5 quarterbacks in the nation last fall when he led South Alabama to a 7-6 finish in coach Major Applewhite’s first season. Lopez completed 66% of his passes for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns in 11 starts, adding another 465 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.
Per TruMedia, Lopez’s 8.20 yards per passing attempt in 2024 ranked 26th among quarterbacks nationally. He also completed 38 passes of 20-plus yards last fall, more than 27 returning passers across the country in 2025.
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Dave Wilson
DAVE LeBLANC REMEMBERS when he saw Jack Bech practice for the first time at a middle school football camp. A strength and offensive line coach at St. Thomas More in Lafayette, Louisiana, since 1995, he has seen his share of talented players come through south Louisiana. But Bech stood out.
“I have witnesses,” LeBlanc said. “When he was running, doing some agility blocks and I was watching him perform, I said, ‘This is going to be the next kid that plays on Sundays.’ I made that call in seventh grade before he had hair under his arms.”
The coaches already had a frame of reference, albeit a smaller one. They had coached Tiger Bech, Jack’s older brother, an aggressive, fiery, but diminutive all-purpose talent who went on to star at Princeton.
“Before Jack, Tiger was the best receiver we’ve ever had,” said Lance Strother, STM’s wide receivers coach. “Then Jack came along with the same skill set, but he also brought the metrics with him, the size and the strength.”
Both fearless. Neither lacked a drop of confidence. They were just five years apart in age and completely different in build.
“Tiger was 5-9 on a tall day,” their dad Martin said, “while Jack was always a man amongst boys. He always was huge.”
All these years later, Jack Bech is standing taller than ever. Now 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, he’s considered a solid Day 2 pick in next week’s NFL draft, all while carrying the hopes of his brother and his family after Tiger, his best friend, was killed on Jan. 1 in the terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
“Whatever team gets me, it’s going to be a two-for-one special. Not only do you get Jack Bech, you get Tiger Bech too,” Jack said. “I have a superpower now. I have another presence about me that just can’t lose.”
JACK IDOLIZED TIGER, following him everywhere from the time he could walk. He watched his brother become a football star, and wanted to be just like him. But Tiger would always tell Jack he got the genetic gifts that he was lacking, calling his little brother “the prototype.”
Two of their uncles, Brett and Blain Bech, played football at LSU, and their aunt, Brenna Bech, was on the Tigers’ first soccer team. Naturally, they were competitive, but Tiger, who became an All-Ivy League return specialist in college, saw bigger things for Jack.
Baton Rouge was just 45 minutes away, and they grew up going to LSU games at Death Valley, watching Tyrann Mathieu, Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry and Leonard Fournette.
And Jack would be next.
“I had two dreams: One was to play in Tiger Stadium, and one was to play in the NFL,” Jack said.
In late October 2020, shortly before signing day, Jack, who had committed to Vanderbilt, finally got an offer from LSU. The family was ecstatic. One of his dreams was coming true.
And he was a star out of the gate. Jack Bech started seven games as a freshman, catching 43 passes for 489 yards and three touchdowns, and becoming a fan favorite. Playing as a hybrid tight end/slot receiver, he was named to two different freshman All-America teams in 2021 alongside players such as Xavier Worthy and Brock Bowers. But once Ed Orgeron was fired and Brian Kelly arrived with a new coaching staff, he had to start over.
He struggled with some nagging injuries but was cleared to play, although he ultimately got stuck in a logjam in a loaded receivers room with Malik Nabers, Kayshon Boutte, Kyren Lacy and Brian Thomas Jr. He played in 12 games, and caught just 16 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown.
“When the coaching change happened at LSU, those weren’t the guys that recruited him and everybody around him didn’t think he was getting a fair shake,” LeBlanc said. “He went from being a freshman All-American, then getting on the field maybe 25% of the snaps. I think the transfer portal is bad for football in the long run. But if anybody should have transferred, it was Jack.”
He picked TCU as his destination, but Sonny Dykes, who had coached at Louisiana Tech and knows the psychic power LSU has over the state’s residents, knew it was a gut-wrenching decision.
“There’s nobody that loves the state of Louisiana more than his family,” Dykes said. “There was a lineage and I’m sure it was very difficult for him to leave. But there’s a quiet confidence about that whole family and it took a lot of confidence to bet on yourself. That’s what makes him different and unique.”
In Fort Worth, Jack suffered a high ankle sprain and had surgery as the Horned Frogs, coming off a 13-2 season in 2022, slipped to 5-7. But amid the struggles, Dykes sold him on a long-range plan, telling him they wanted him to get him fully healthy and back to who he was as a freshman, even if it was frustrating for Jack.
“Well, let’s give a lot of credit to Sonny Dykes for that,” Strother said. “Imagine having a world-class race car tuned up and ready to go and you’re pretty sure there’s not another car that can beat it anywhere, but you keep it in the garage. It was a matter of Jack getting healthy and then being unleashed with opportunity.”
Dykes said by midway through his junior year, Jack had so many small little bumps and bruises that he “had one of everything.” He could see how badly Jack wanted to play, which he said might have been part of the problem. He couldn’t ease off the gas.
“He’s a guy that’s trained his body really, really hard, has never taken a break and tried to squeeze every single ounce of ability out of his body,” Dykes said. “And it was pretty banged up because of it.”
He caught just five passes from October on, as they kept him on a tight leash. He finished his junior year in 2023 with appearances in eight games, catching 12 passes for 146 yards. But Dykes would tell anyone who would listen that he was going to be a star the next season. And by the spring, it was evident.
“We were going to play him inside, but we had a logjam of players inside, and he just kept performing at such a high level that we wanted to play him every down. So we moved him outside, and the thing about him is he knew all the positions. It’s easier to move from outside to inside because you’ve got to deal with press corners and releases. There’s usually a transition. With Jack, there was no transition.”
He responded with one of the greatest seasons by a Horned Frogs receiver, catching 62 passes for 1,034 yards and nine touchdowns in 2024, the fourth-highest single-season total in TCU history, trailing only Josh Doctson, Quentin Johnston and Jalen Reagor, who were all first-round picks.
And best of all, Tiger was there to watch every game, flying down from New York, where he had begun a career as a stockbroker.
“One of the greatest things about this season was it gave us, our whole family a focus,” Martin Bech said. “My daughter lives in Philadelphia, another one lives in Nashville. It gave us all a gathering point. Tiger just loved being there, being in Fort Worth and being with Jack. There’s a famous text in the family now about how Tiger was just so enamored by Jack’s success.”
“It’s happening,” Tiger wrote.
AT 3:15 A.M. on Jan. 1, Tiger and his roommate Ryan Quigley, whom he worked with in New York, were on Bourbon Street when Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Houston accelerated his pickup truck into the crowd, then got into a shootout with police before he was fatally wounded. He killed 14 people, including Tiger, and injured at least 57 others, including Quigley.
Tiger was taken to the hospital and kept on life support until his family could arrive. A TCU booster flew Jack to New Orleans on his plane immediately, but he didn’t make it in time. The moment he got the news Tiger was gone, he told himself he was going to get Tiger a Hall of Fame jacket.
Jack was out front immediately, doing television interviews and hoping to talk about his brother whenever he was needed. He and the family were unimaginably unshakeable.
“Our pain and our suffering is no different from the 13 other families that lost their loved ones in that horror,” Martin said. “All these kids that were in the ICU for weeks on end and Tiger’s roommate who had his leg shattered and his face gashed for six inches, everyone is struggling the same. We’re just blessed that we are given the platform to share Tiger’s story.”
Jack said his foundation is his faith, that he believes there was a reason this year played out the way it did. Tiger and the family were gathered for every game. He had the best season of his life. They were all together in New Orleans for Christmas.
Martin said he started hearing stories after Tiger had died about all the people he had visited back home in Louisiana over the holidays who he hadn’t seen in years. He thinks that was all by design too. He said Tiger knew Jack was going to be near Fort Worth rigorously training for the draft, so he wanted to maximize their time together.
“When we’re home together, we’re going to spend every minute together,” Tiger told Jack. “If we have to go Christmas shopping, we’re going to go together. If we have to go meet a friend, we’re going to meet the friend together. If we’re going to go to our aunt’s house for dinner, we’re going together.”
They were inseparable the entire holiday season, even down to the pets, Martin said.
“We have pictures of him sleeping on the sofa with Jack’s dog,” he said of Tiger. “Is it any more special than a lot of brothers’ relationships? Maybe not, but it was pretty damn special.”
Jack says this is all destiny. And it has allowed him to find a new gear.
Every coach who knows Jack has seen a different Jack since that day. And they all have a similar vantage point on what they see.
“He was already on a great trajectory,” Dykes said. “This was kind of the rocket fuel.”
“Some people could have spun off the rails after you lose your best friend, but it did the total opposite with Jack,” LeBlanc said. “Jack was going to be in the league with or without Tiger’s passing, but Tiger’s passing kind of propelled him.”
“Tiger, who was an absolutely phenomenal football player himself, knew and understood long before the rest of the football world understood and believed Jack was bound for greatness at the highest level,” Strother said. “Now he’s bound, determined and on fire to bring to the fullest potential his talent and ability in honor of Tiger and in honor of his faith.”
Everything culminated in a magical Senior Bowl performance.
Jim Nagy, the game’s executive director, got Jack the No. 7 jersey, Tiger’s number. Every player on the field wore a tiger-striped decal with 7 on it. Jack had an impressive performance, earning MVP honors with six catches for 68 yards.
Dykes said he was watching with his 8-year-old son Daniel, who said, “Dad, Jack’s going to score a touchdown on the last play of the game.”
With 7 seconds left, Memphis QB Seth Henigan rolled right, and found Jack for the game-winner. Jack calls these moments “Tiger Winks.”
“I knew I was about to catch that ball and score that touchdown,” he said. “My brother’s name was written in the clouds above us. Just so many signs. I mean, if you don’t believe God is real, I don’t know how much more you need.”
He has lived a lifetime this offseason. Now he waits to see where he goes. But wherever it is, Tiger will be with him. He’s got “7 to Heaven” tattooed on his chest, along with a set of Roman numerals representing Tiger’s birth and death dates.
“They’re only on the left side of my body, because he was my other half,” Jack said.
Strother said it will be tough knowing Tiger won’t be there for Jack’s draft party.
“There will be a profound Tiger spirit all throughout that draft party room because it was a day and a moment that Jack and Tiger together really looked forward to,” he said.
And whoever turns that card in with Jack’s number on it will get both of them.
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