Scott Boras


Scott Dean Boras is an American sports agent, specializing in baseball. He is the founder, owner and president of the Boras Corporation, a sports agency based in Newport Beach, California, that represents roughly 175 professional baseball clients.
Since 2013, Forbes magazine has named Boras the "Most Powerful Sports Agent in the World." In 2019 and 2022, contracts signed by his clients totaled more than $1 billion in the month of December. In 2024, Boras negotiated the largest contract in sports history on behalf of superstar client Juan Soto; the contract's total value was $765 million.

Early life and playing career

Scott Dean Boras was born on November 2, 1952, in Sacramento, California and grew up in Elk Grove, California, the son of a dairy farmer. He attended the University of the Pacific and made the baseball team as a walk on. He led the team with a.312 batting average in 1972. As of 2009, Boras was in the top 10 in school history in multiple offensive categories. Boras was inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995, and the baseball team's annual "Most Improved Player" award is named in his honor. Following his college career, Boras played four years of minor league baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs organizations. Boras made the Florida State League All-Star team in 1976, but knee problems shortened his career and he retired with a career batting average of.288. Boras received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of the Pacific in 1977.
Following his playing career, Boras returned to the University of the Pacific, earning his Juris Doctor degree from the university's McGeorge School of Law in 1982. After law school, Boras worked as an associate in the pharmaceutical defense department of the Chicago firm Rooks, Pitts & Poust, defending drug companies against class-action lawsuits.

Boras Corporation

Boras's start as an agent came representing Manny Trillo, a former major league second baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and other teams, and Bill Caudill, a former minor league teammate and closer for the Seattle Mariners, both of whom now work for Boras. By 1980, he had decided his calling was as a baseball agent. In 1983, Boras negotiated one of the largest contracts in baseball history, $7.5 million for Caudill; and not long afterward, Boras left his law firm job to represent players full time.
Today, Boras is the president and owner of the Boras Corporation, a baseball-only sports agency. In 2014, the Boras Corporation was named by Forbes magazine as the most valuable single-sport agency in the world.
Boras and his company Boras Corporation have become known for record-setting contracts for their free agent and amateur draft clients. Boras was the first baseball agent to negotiate contracts in excess of $50 million: Greg Maddux, five years, $57.5 million in 1997; $100 million Kevin Brown, seven years, $105 million in 1998; and $200 million Alex Rodriguez, 10 years, $252 million in 2000.
Boras has represented many of the elite players in each year's amateur draft and been a strong advocate for increasing player compensation. Boras' first record-setting contract for a drafted player was $150,000 for Tim Belcher in 1983. Since then, Boras clients regularly pushed draft compensation higher, starting with $247,500 for Andy Benes in 1988; a $1.01 million guarantee for Ben McDonald in 1989, including a $350,000 bonus; a $1.2 million guarantee, including a $500,000 bonus for Todd Van Poppel in 1990; $1.55 million for Brien Taylor in 1991; continuing through $8.5 million for J. D. Drew in 1998 and $9.5 million for Mark Teixeira in 2001. In 2009, Boras clients broke several draft records, led by Stephen Strasburg, who surpassed the $15 million barrier with the largest contract in draft history at that time with $15.1 million; Donavan Tate, who received the largest signing bonus ever given to a high school player at $6.25 million; and Jacob Turner, who received the largest signing bonus ever given to a high school pitcher at $4.7 million.
The Boras Corporation operates out of a $20 million,, two-story, glass-and-steel building in Newport Beach, California. Subsidiary companies include Boras Marketing, which does memorabilia, marketing, and endorsements; and the Boras Sports Training Institute for strength/conditioning and sports psychology. Many of the 75-person staff are former major leaguers, including Bob Brower, Don Carman, Bill Caudill, Scott Chiamparino, Mike Fischlin, Calvin Murray, Jeff Musselman, Domingo Ramos and Kurt Stillwell. The company has scouts across the United States, Asia and Latin America. Staff also includes an MIT-trained economist, a former NASA computer engineer, three lawyers, five personal trainers, and an investment team, although the firm does not provide investment services for clients. Also on staff is a sports psychologist and a 14-person research staff charged with watching each day's games and reporting to Boras.

Reputation

Over the course of his career, Boras has represented hundreds of players on all 30 major league teams and has participated in dozens of high-profile negotiations. Boras' specialty is the record-breaking contract, which he says is the most difficult to achieve because it then provides an "umbrella" from which other players can benefit. Boras is well known for identifying sources of leverage for his clients and using them for the clients' advantage. This has included advising draft picks to return to school instead of signing, taking advantage of the right to go to salary arbitration hearings, and advising superstars to wait for free agency instead of taking "hometown discount" contracts. This does not endear him to fans, who regularly side with their favorite teams and not individual players. Boras, however, has said his job is to represent his clients' interests, even if it means weathering public criticism. Boras' innovative strategies have benefited his clients enough that Major League Baseball has changed its rules in response to his actions on multiple occasions. This has led to descriptions of Boras ranging from "baseball's most hated man" and "baseball's answer to Lord Voldemort" to the man "players can't afford to live without."

Notable deals

1980s

  • Boras' first major contract showdown was between Bill Caudill and the Toronto Blue Jays in February 1985. Caudill was eligible for salary arbitration, and Boras negotiated a $1.5 million contract that made Caudill the second-highest paid reliever in the game. Caudill was a former minor league teammate of Boras.
  • In 1988, Boras represented the top three picks in the amateur draft: Andy Benes, Mark Lewis and Steve Avery. Benes signed for a $235,000 bonus, the largest in baseball history at the time.
  • The next year, in 1989, Boras negotiated the first multi-year major league contract ever given to a baseball-only amateur, a $1.01 million deal for first overall pick Ben McDonald with the Baltimore Orioles that included a $350,000 signing bonus.

    1990s

  • In 1990, Boras stunned baseball officials by securing a record $1.2 million guaranteed major league contract for the #14 pick in the draft, high school pitcher Todd Van Poppel. The contract included a $500,000 signing bonus.
  • In 1991, Boras again set a record by securing a $1.55 million bonus from the New York Yankees for high school phenomenon Brien Taylor.
  • In 1992, Boras negotiated a record five-year, $28 million contract for Greg Maddux with the Atlanta Braves, eclipsing the second-best offer by $9 million. The contract trailed only David Cone's contract in terms of annual value and was two years longer.
  • In 1996, Boras used an obscure provision in the major league rules to have draft picks Matt White and Bobby Seay declared free agents. White and Seay both then signed with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays, with White receiving a $10.2 million contract and Seay receiving a $3 million bonus, significantly more than what they would have received via the draft process. The following year, Major League Baseball changed its rules in response to Boras' success in circumventing the draft, which had resulted in at least $25 million in extra money for his clients. For many years, being "outsmarted" by Boras and losing Seay remained a sore spot for White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, one of Commissioner Bud Selig's closest allies.
  • In 1997, Boras advised draft pick J. D. Drew not to accept the Philadelphia Phillies' $2.6 million offer. Drew instead signed a professional contract with the independent St. Paul Saints. Boras and the MLBPA then filed a grievance to have Drew declared a free agent since only "amateurs" could be subject to what was then known as the "amateur draft". Boras won the argument, but the arbitrator ruled he could not grant Drew free agency since he was not a member of the MLBPA. Instead, Drew re-entered the draft the following year and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals for nearly three times the Phillies' best offer. Major League Baseball again was forced to amend its rules because of Boras; the draft is now called the "First Year Player Draft" as a result of the Drew grievance.
  • Following the 1997 season, Boras broke the $50 million barrier by negotiating a five-year, $57.5 million contract for Greg Maddux with the Atlanta Braves, making Maddux the highest paid player in the game.
  • Only a year later, in 1998, Boras broke the $100 million barrier by negotiating a seven-year, $105 million contract for Kevin Brown with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Brown dethroned Maddux as the highest-paid player in the game.
  • Also in 1998, Boras negotiated a seven-year, $87.5 million contract for Bernie Williams to stay with the New York Yankees, even though the Yankees had made a public statement that they would not exceed $60 million for Williams.
  • In 1999, Boras filed a grievance on behalf of Adrián Beltré because the Los Angeles Dodgers falsified Beltré's Dominican Republic birth records prior to signing him in 1994. Team representatives changed the records in order to sign Beltré when he was only 15. In response to Boras's grievance, Commissioner Bud Selig awarded Beltré damages of $48,500. Additionally, Selig imposed significant penalties on the Dodgers.