MLB · 1B (listed) · Chicago Cubs
Tyler Austin
B/T R/R · 6' 2" · 220 lb · born Conyers, GA, USA · age 34 · draft 2010 rd 13 · MLB debut 2016-08-13
Injured 60-Day · Right knee surgery. (roster status, as of )
Scout’s note
Tyler Austin is a 34-year-old first baseman from Conyers, Georgia, a 13th-round pick in 2010 who debuted in 2016. His career line tells the story — a .219 average but 33 home runs and a .743 OPS across 209 games.
Note written · FVR scout (GLM-5.2)
What he’s paid
ArbitrationA market fact, not an engine read: what a club decided about him, on the season before this one. Figures from Cot’s, as of .
- 2026 salary
- $1.20M
- Tax hit
- $1.20M
- Service time
- 2 yr 151 d
- Options left
- 0 / 3
The deal 1 year $1.2M (2026)
On the sheet: 1 y/$1.2M (26) · agent Ballengee
After this season, as the sheet has it
| Season | 2027 | 2028 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | Arb 4 | Free agent |
| Tax hit | — | — |
Regime flagged: the sheet's out-year codes read arbitration and 2.151 reads pre_arb. Kept the sheet's; Super Two and optional assignments move this line and the service boundary cannot see them.
Cash and the tax hit are two different rulebooks and are never subtracted from one another — see the payroll board for his club, Chicago Cubs.
A second set of books
The same contract, read by MLB Spreadsheets (Ethan Hullihen), as of . We keep two sources on this because one source cannot check itself.
- Tax AAV
- $1.20M
- Guaranteed
- $1.20M
- Term
- 1 yr
What the sheet prices each season at
| Season | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary | $1.2M |
A base salary under his own reading, and never subtracted from the cash figure above: a signing bonus lands in one and not the other, so the two disagree on most men without either being wrong. And the sheet does not mark which future seasons are GUARANTEED — a club option and a projected arbitration award are both just a number here, so read past the end of the deal as his forecast rather than as money owed.
Two sources, read a month apart, put this guarantee at the same dollar. That is the check, and it passed.
The tax AAV above is his number under the CBA’s own rulebook, not the average we work out from Cot’s total. On a contract with deferred money the two come apart on purpose — and neither is subtracted from the other.
Collect Tyler Austin
If the signal is right, the cardboard usually finds out later. Current listings:
Tyler Austin cards on eBay →Paid link — as an eBay Partner, FVR earns from qualifying purchases.
Not financial advice. We take positions only after publication — never before. Misses stay on the record.
The line
Bio & season lines: MLB StatsAPI · refreshed nightly · abbreviations →