Getty Image / Jamie Squire
Elly De La Cruz has only been in the MLB for a little over a week and he is already generating a ton of hype.
He has already hit his 1st MLB home run, scored 8 runs, and stolen 5 bases while hitting .267 in his first MLB action.
Unfortunately, it looks like he could end up losing a decent chunk of any major contract he signs during his MLB career.
Today, Huddle Up’s Joe Pompliano revealed that De La Cruz is one of 500 professional athletes who could end up owing an investment firm millions of dollars.
Elly De La Cruz is one of MLB's most exciting players.
But he might have to pay MILLIONS in career earnings to an investment firm — and he's not the only one.
Over 500 professional athletes have signed these deals, and Fernando Tatis Jr. owes them $27 million.
Here's how it… pic.twitter.com/lpxsJrR4qK
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 14, 2023
According to Pompliano’s tweet, De La Cruz entered a deal with a company called Big League Advantage where they gave him money early in his career in exchange for 8% of his future earnings.
De La Cruz isn’t the only notable player who has made one of these deals with BLA. There are over 500 athletes who have already signed a deal.
Most notably, Fernando Tatis Jr signed one of these deals back in 2017 while he was still playing in the minors.
The 8% that BLA will get from that deal is now worth $27.2 million thanks to the $340 million contract he signed with the San Diego Padres. According to Pompliano, that money is enough to cover all of the investments they’ve already made in athletes.
It’s definitely an interesting idea to invest in athletes before they hit it big and it’s clearly a business model that’s working.
Still, it’s kind of crazy that these stars make little enough money in the minors that they have to take these kinds of deals and sign away a chunk of their future value.
In the end, players like Tatis Jr and Elly De La Cruz probably won’t miss that money after getting their big contracts, but it’s a lot of money to end up giving up to supplement your income early in your career.