With minor league players in a more precarious position than usual, advocacy groups are scrambling to help.

If the MLB draft is a time to look toward the minors with excitement, 2020 has offered the inverse.

The minor league season has not been canceled but now seems quite unlikely. Franchises are stuck in limbo, with little cheer to be found in a draft shrunk to five rounds. As for players already in the minors, the last few weeks have been full of anxiety: Hundreds were released at the end of May, and for those who remain, financial outlooks are uncertain. Most clubs have decided to continue $400 weekly payments at least to the end of June—a handful have committed for the full season—yet many players are still struggling, with no idea what will come next for them or for baseball.

Of course, precarity and low paychecks are not new here, and