Each time he addresses a group of recently signed pro baseball players, MLB deputy general counsel Paul Mifsud reminds them of the vast and diverse nature of their workforce, as compared to those in basketball and football.
“‘We’re not the NBA’ is how I start almost every speech I give to first-year minor league players,” said Mifsud, whose role includes oversight of player programs for minor leaguers, who do not qualify for membership in the MLB Players Association. “If we were, the meeting that I’d be having with them would be in New York City at a fancy hotel, where I’d be able to invite their mom and dad to come in and I could even pay for it, because there are only two rounds and all of them are going to be at the NBA level next year.
“That’s not our situation.”
The NBA drafts 60 players each June, with about 80 percent coming from U.S. universities. The NFL drafts 256 players each April, all from four-year schools. Last year, 1,214 players were taken in the MLB draft. Two-thirds came from four-year schools, one-fourth came from high schools and almost 10 percent came from junior colleges, according to a Baseball America analysis of the draft. With about three out of four drafted players signing pro contracts, approximately 900 players enter MLB-affiliated baseball through the draft each year.
While none of those players are guaranteed funding for college, as their counterparts in the NFL and NBA are, baseball players are able to negotiate payment for school as part of their initial contracts. A college junior from Auburn might negotiate funding for the rest of his bachelor’s degree. A high school pitcher recruited by Stanford might get enough to cover four years there. Commitments are treated as a conditional signing bonus, paid only if a player attends school.
Though individual clubs foot the bills, MLB manages disbursement through its Continuing Education Program, launched in the early 1960s and revamped in 2016 to reflect a shift toward online degree programs. Finding that its players frequently enrolled in for-profit degree programs that have received mixed reviews, MLB now will pay only for classes taken in online programs with graduation rates of 50 percent or higher.
Because that disqualified the University of Phoenix, a popular big-box option among players, MLB sought an online program with which it could affiliate. It settled on Northeastern University, a school it had grown familiar with while developing a player education program to address domestic violence.
When Northeastern landed its partnership with MLB, it hired MLB business communications director Dan Queen to manage the relationship. That cross-pollination has proved fruitful for both MLB and the school, which now has 40 players enrolled in its classes.
“Any time a player has any interest in getting his education, if he can just pick up a phone or send a text or an email to our Northeastern hotline, he’s going to be put in touch with one person, and that’s Dan,” Mifsud said. “And Dan is not going to let that guy go until that player gets a full workup about what Northeastern can provide.”
That workup will vary, based on the player’s background and interests.
Carlos Peña, a first-round pick who spent parts of 14 seasons in the big leagues and now works as an analyst for MLB Network, is taking classes to finish up his bachelor’s through Northeastern, which, coincidentally, is where he played college ball.
“But on the flip side of it, you have the 24-year-olds who flamed out at short [Class] A baseball, only got a $1,000 signing bonus and now are wondering what they’re supposed to do with their lives,” Mifsud said. “And then you have the kids in the Dominican Republic who never get off the island. How are you going to provide a one-size-fits-all educational system for all those people? It’s very hard.”
