Bonus Baby: Luke Keaschall Earned Pre-Arbitration Bonus for 2025 Season

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

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 Corbin Carroll ($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 Junior Caminero ($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). 

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[mikelink45]

be careful Luke - soon you will be too expensive for the Twins

 

[stringer bell]

I hope he earns a bunch more in ‘26. 

[Parfigliano]

46 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

be careful Luke - soon you will be too expensive for the Twins

 

Keaschall was one of the few bright spots all year.  

[Blyleven2011]

Great bonus for keaschall  , as others have said  , he was one of the few highlights of the team  ...

He's a fun player to watch and hope it continues , he dreams baseball every waking minute ...

[nicksaviking]

Gonna’ need another silent investor to pay for all this now.

[Doctor Wu]

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. 

In light of the other bonuses being handed out, I'm surprised too. I suppose measuring performance remains an inexact science. Whatever formula they are using, whether it's bWAR or anything else, is beyond my comprehension. 

[Seth Stohs]

20 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

be careful Luke - soon you will be too expensive for the Twins

 

Good one!

But something I should have mentioned in the article is that all teams pay equally into this $50 million pool. So in theory, they would probably want more of that money going to Twins players. 

[Permanent Twins Fan]

It's good to see Luke recieve a well-earned bonus after this season. I agree with the sentiment that pre-arbitration bonuses are one of the best things that MLB added with the Collectective Bargaining Agreement. Keaschall is one of the bright spots for the Twins in 2026. 

[twinstalker]

I think some missed that this wasn't paid by the Twins.

[TNtwins85]

9 hours ago, twinstalker said:

I think some missed that this wasn't paid by the Twins.

Typical Twins outrage and for that matter everything else. Read the headline and immediately go to comments or social media to tell everyone else how outraged you are without understanding the whole picture.

[TNtwins85]

15 hours ago, Permanent Twins Fan said:

It's good to see Luke recieve a well-earned bonus after this season. I agree with the sentiment that pre-arbitration bonuses are one of the best things that MLB added with the Collectective Bargaining Agreement. Keaschall is one of the bright spots for the Twins in 2026. 

If only he can stay on the field now. Love how hard he plays and the passion but I can see the article now. “ Another Twins player constantly injured!” 

[gman]

I just hope for a couple more Twins players earning pre-arb bonus next year.