List of highest-paid Major League Baseball players

Major League Baseball does not have a hard salary cap, instead employing a luxury tax that applies to teams whose total payroll exceeds certain set thresholds for a given season. Free agency did not exist in MLB prior to the end of the reserve clause in the 1970s, allowing owners before that time to wholly dictate the terms of player negotiations and resulting in significantly lower salaries.
Babe Ruth, widely regarded as one of the greatest baseball players ever, earned an estimated $856,850 over his entire playing career. When asked whether he thought he deserved to earn $80,000 a year, while the president, Herbert Hoover, had a $75,000 salary, Ruth famously remarked, "What the hell has Hoover got to do with it? Besides, I had a better year than he did."
Pitcher Nolan Ryan was the first player to earn an annual salary above $1 million, signing a $4.5 million, 4-year contract with the Houston Astros in 1979. Kirby Puckett and Rickey Henderson signed the first contracts which paid an average of $3 million a year in November 1989. In 1990, Jose Canseco signed for 5 years and $23.5 million, making him the first player to earn an average of $4 million a year. It wasn't until 2010 when the average salary for all MLB players exceeded $4 million.
Alex Rodriguez signed two record-breaking contracts during his career. First, he signed a $252 million, 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers in December 2000. Baseball executive Sandy Alderson called the deal "stupefying," while Sports Illustrated noted that Rodriguez's early salaries under the contract would be greater than the annual payroll of the entire Minnesota Twins team that year. The deal was the largest sports contract in history, doubling the total value of Kevin Garnett's $126 million National Basketball Association contract and more than doubling Mike Hampton's $121 million contract, the previous MLB record which had been signed just days before. The Rangers traded Rodriguez before the 2004 season to the New York Yankees for Alfonso Soriano, though Texas agreed to pay $67 million of the $179 million outstanding on the contract. Rodriguez then opted out of the remainder of his deal after the 2007 season and renegotiated a new $275 million, 10-year agreement with the Yankees, breaking his own record for the largest sports contract. Five of the 20 highest-paid players in 2013 were members of the Yankees. Their 2013 payroll was $228,835,490, roughly $12 million above the second-largest Los Angeles Dodgers. The Yankees have drawn criticism for their payroll, with some claiming it undermines the parity of MLB. From 2003 to 2024, the Yankees' payroll exceeded the luxury tax threshold every year except 2018 and 2021. Following 2020, the Dodgers and New York Mets have led the majors in payroll. The Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a ten-year, $700 million contract before the 2024 season, though most of that money was deferred. Accounting for net present value, Juan Soto signed a larger contract with the Mets before the 2025 season, a 15-year, $765 million contract with no deferred money.

Highest current annual salaries

This table refers to the average annual salary for 2026, without considering signing bonuses or deferred payments.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Salary
1	Shohei Ohtani	DH/SP	Los Angeles Dodgers	$70 million
2	Kyle Tucker	OF	Los Angeles Dodgers	$60 million
3	Juan Soto	OF	New York Mets	$51 million
4	Zack Wheeler	SP	Philadelphia Phillies	$42 million
4	Bo Bichette	3B	New York Mets	$42 million
6	Aaron Judge	OF	New York Yankees	$40 million
7	Jacob deGrom	SP	Texas Rangers	$37 million
8	Blake Snell	SP	Los Angeles Dodgers	$36.4 million
9	Gerrit Cole	SP	New York Yankees	$36 million
10	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	1B	Toronto Blue Jays	$35.7 million

Top 10 career earnings

Name	Team	Position	Years	Earnings
	Seattle Mariners Texas Rangers New York Yankees	SS, 3B	1994–2016	$485.2 million
	Detroit Tigers Houston Astros New York Mets San Francisco Giants	SP	2006–Present	$409.3 million
	Florida Marlins Detroit Tigers	1B, 3B, DH	2003–2023	$393.2 million
	Arizona Diamondbacks Detroit Tigers Washington Nationals Los Angeles Dodgers New York Mets Texas Rangers Toronto Blue Jays	SP	2008–Present	$345.1 million
	St. Louis Cardinals Los Angeles Angels Los Angeles Dodgers	1B, 3B, OF, DH	2001–2022	$341.8 million
	Kansas City Royals Milwaukee Brewers Los Angeles Angels Los Angeles Dodgers Arizona Diamondbacks Houston Astros	SP	2004–2023	$328.5 million
	Los Angeles Dodgers	SP	2009–2025	$314.7 million
	Los Angeles Angels	OF	2011-Present	$303.2 million
	New York Yankees	SS	1995–2014	$266.3 million
	Cleveland Indians Milwaukee Brewers New York Yankees	SP	2001–2019	$265.0 million

Salary progression

Average annual salary	Date signed	Name	Team	Position	Contract duration	Ref
$			Boston Red Sox	OF
$			Chicago White Sox	1B
$			New York Yankees	SP
$			California Angels	1B
$			Houston Astros	SP
$			New York Yankees	RF	10
$			Baltimore Orioles	1B
$			Los Angeles Dodgers	SP
$			Kansas City Royals	SP
$			Minnesota Twins	CF
$			California Angels	SP
$			Kansas City Royals	SP
$			Oakland Athletics	SP
$			San Francisco Giants	1B
$			New York Yankees	1B
$			Oakland Athletics	RF/DH
$			Boston Red Sox	SP
$			New York Mets	3B/RF
$			Chicago Cubs	2B
$			San Francisco Giants	LF
$			Seattle Mariners	CF
$			Chicago White Sox	LF
$			San Francisco Giants	LF
$			Atlanta Braves	SP
$			Boston Red Sox	SP
$			New York Mets	C
$			Anaheim Angels	1B
$			Los Angeles Dodgers	SP
$			New York Yankees	SP
$			Toronto Blue Jays	1B
$			Texas Rangers	SS	10
$			New York Yankees	3B	10
$			Los Angeles Dodgers	SP	7
$			Detroit Tigers	1B	8
$			Arizona Diamondbacks	SP	6
$			Los Angeles Angels	CF	12
$			New York Yankees	SP	9
$			New York Mets	SP	3
$			Los Angeles Dodgers	DH/SP	10
$			New York Mets	OF	15
$			Los Angeles Dodgers	OF	4