Major League Baseball is implementing a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for all minor league players ahead of the 2022 season, according to reports.
The new policy was being finalized this week, according to Yahoo Sports and other outlets.
With minor leaguers having no union and thus no mechanism to negotiate, the mandate was expected to go into effect with little issue, according to the Associated Press.
All league employees are already required to be vaccinated, and some teams have similar such policies of their own. Most notably, longtime Nationals executive Bob Boone left the team after he declined to get inoculated.
Teams were incentivized to vaccinate as many players as possible, with relaxed protocols for teams that reached the 85% threshold. Several teams were still short of that mark by season's end, per AP, including the Red Sox, who advanced to the AL Division Series after beating the Yankees in the Wild Card game.
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