Life in the Gulf Coast League -PLEASE READ THIS

[splitterpfj]

I've known Tyler since he was two, and I know his agent as well, who is BF.netter, "Agent39."

 

Life at the bottom of the pile is anything but glamorous...

 

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=24118

[pitchleague]

that's pretty interesting! Thanks for sharing!

 

I never knew that the GCL was a 3-team league!

[torts]

Thanks for sharing!

[splitterpfj]

The kids are at the ballpark every day at 6 AM, they do a full workout, then play a game, which begins at noon. They're all back in their hotel rooms by late afternoon, where many of them take a long nap.

 

The players have no money, and the town they're in doesn't offer much night life, even if they did. Obviously, the young men are tested physically, but I think the mental/emotional grind is the real test they face at this level.

[Patrick425]

Thanks for sharing that splitter, that is a great read!

 

I am a bit confused about the pay though. How does $1100/month net to $400? I doubt that someone making that kind of money is paying those kind of taxes (that's a 63% tax rate and I don't believe there are state income taxes in Florida). If it's two paychecks a month of $400 then that makes a little more sense..however, then the statement that they have $200 a month to live on (after the hotel fee) is not true (it would be $600). Either way, not a lot of money to live on, but the math as described in the article does not make sense.

 

Also is it $1100 per month for 12 months or just during the season? If it's 12 months then the annual pay would be $13,200. After the standard deduction the taxable income would be about $7,000. That's the 10% tax bracket. So, net pay of $12,500 ($13,200 - $700), or about $1,000 net a month before the hotel deduction.

[ewitkows]

They are only paid the months they are playing

[jerichoholicninja]

Sounds bad, but how many of us would do it? I know if I was given that opportunity I would jump on it.

[Patrick425]

They are only paid the months they are playing

 

 

Ok, well then their taxes would be close to $0 after the personal deduction (unless they were married and had a spouse that worked and filed jointly, or they have an off season job that put's there wages farther above the personal deduction, but even then the taxes would be minimal). I'm not saying that it's great amount of money at all (it clearly is not), but the $200 a month to live on statement does not compute and seems to be a bit of an overstatement (or understatement?), unless there is another $400 - $600 in monthly fees that they have to pay that is not explained in the article.

[folly412]

that's pretty interesting! Thanks for sharing!

 

I never knew that the GCL was a 3-team league!

 

Thought that was weird too. Had to do some Rookie ball research due to the curiosity. Looks like it was slightly off, as they play three other teams. Probably missed that the GCL Cardinals and GCL Marlins are both "Jupiter" and share a park.

 

It's a 16 team league with four divisions. It looks like two of the divisions are close to Tampa and play each other, but the "East" or "South" divisions don't, so their ~64 game schedule is against three other teams. The Northeast and Northwest divisions both have Yankees affiliates who play each other...got to love getting drafted and assigned to the "GCL Yankees 1" or "GCL Yankees 2". Can certainly see how getting sent to the GCL can be rough.

 

By contrast, our Arizona League Brewers are in a 13-team league and four team division, but play inter-division against the rest of the league, so the schedule at least has some variation to it. Helena (Pioneer League) plays in an eight team, two division league that plays all other teams.