When the Collective Bargaining Agreement between players and owners made their most-recent agreement in 2022, one of the better policy changes was giving more money to players who are unable to make the big money yet. Each season, the league sets aside $50 million. Specific amounts are earned for receiving Rookie of the Year, MVP or Cy Young votes, or finishing first or second team All-MLB. 

For instance, Paul Skenes won the Cy Young this season, so he got $2.5 million for that. Hunter Brown finished third place in NL voting, and for that, he received $1.5 million. A player can only receive a bonus for one award per year, the higher amount. The remaining money is then allocated to several players based on a special formula using a couple of WAR stats. 

The top of the 2025 pre-arbitration bonuses looks a lot like the top of the NL Cy Young vote. Paul Skenes led the way at $3,436,343. Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez earned $2,678,437, and Brown earned $2,206,538. Others to earn a bonus over $1 million include Mariners Bryan Woo ($1.54M), Diamondbacks OF ($1.34M), A’s 1B Nick Kurtz ($1.30M), Cubs OF Pete Crow-Armstrong ($1.21M), Braves catcher Drake Baldwin ($1.18M), Brewers 2B Brice Turang ($1.16M), and Rays 3B ($1.07M). 

A 23-year-old former 2nd round pick, Keaschall made his big-league debut in April and earned 164 days of service time during the 2025 season. He hit .302/.382/.445 (.827) with 14 doubles, four home runs and 28 RBI. He had 14 steals in 17 attempts. He received a couple of Rookie of the Year votes. Per Baseball-Reference, his season was worth 2.0 WAR. Per FanGraphs, his season was valued at 1.6 WAR. 

Keaschall,’s 2025 salary for his big-league time would have been the major-league minimum salary of $760,000. Since he was on the roster 164 days, his MLB salary was somewhere around $690,000. On Tuesday, he earned his bonus of $209,217, an extra 30% for him. Just two players, Reds infielder Matt McLain ($206,056) and Nationals OF Daylen Lile ($150,000), earned a smaller bonus.  

Frankly, the Twins didn’t have a lot of pre-arbitration players on the roster who played enough for consideration. Others include Matt Wallner, Brooks Lee, Edouard Julien each had more plate appearances than Keaschall’s 207.

Frankly I’m surprised that Simeon Woods Richardson didn’t get a bonus in 2025. He went 7-4 with a 4.04 ERA over 111 1/3 innings and 22 games started. It was worth 2.2 bWAR and 1.2 fWAR, so he had to be close. Louie Varland had to be close as well. 

Following the 2023 season, the Twins had six players earn the bonus: Bailey Ober ($432,752), Edouard Julien ($397,629), Joe Ryan ($341,931), Royce Lewis ($341,190), Ryan Jeffers ($300,304), and Jhoan Duran ($271,789). 

After the 2024 season, the Twins had five players earn this bonus: Bailey Ober ($381,085), Griffin Jax ($352,852), Joe Ryan ($331,054), Matt Wallner ($256,296), and Simeon Woods Richardson ($243,471).Â