Major League Baseball is proposing an international draft as a component of the new collective bargaining agreement the league is negotiating with its players, ESPN.com reported.
The proposal calls for a two-day, 10-round international draft starting in March 2018, including a minimum-age requirement of 18 for eligible players by 2021.
Baseball executives believe instituting an international draft would help alleviate some of the perceived corruption surrounding the acquisition of talent from Latino countries, the report said. Under the current system, for example, handlers sometimes demand fees from teams in order to sign their players. There’s also been a market of handlers smuggling players from Cuba.