Amid growing complaints from Minor League Baseball players, the big leagues have decided to step in and help remedy some pains.

At the forefront is housing and eating options, something players trying to reach the largest stage see as a continuing headache. Major League Baseball (MLB), which now owns all of the minor leagues (MiLB), says it’s going to do something.

What that will be, as of now, is unknown. But this much is apparently a given — players, and their minor league teams, will benefit.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that discussions among MLB owners regarding MiLB revolve around whether to provide housing to minor league players or a stipend to fund it. The decision regarding minor league changes could be determined at December’s MLB winter meetings.

The minor league affiliate, such as the Los Angeles Angels Double-A club the Rocket City Trash Pandas, won’t have to absorb a financial hit.

“I’m not sure which way the Angels will go,’’ said Garrett Fahrmann, general manager of the Trash Pandas. “Maybe securing six or eight units or three bedroom apartments or houses or providing stipends, or what. They’re still kind of in the process of putting that together.’’

Traditionally, minor league players have been responsible for their own housing. The minor league club they were assigned to would provide a hotel for around three days until the prospect could line up something on their own.

That arrangement left the players vulnerable. Many aligned with other players to crash together in one hotel room or apartment, or to rely on team boosters for foster or host housing.

Instead of focusing on improving their game and climbing the organizational ladder, prospects were saddled with the worry about where they’d lay their head at night. Especially coming out of spring training with destinations unknown.

“They don’t know where they’re going to go, and (management) doesn’t know who we’re going to get until a couple of days before the season,’’ Fahrmann said. “So when they get here, we put them up in a hotel, with the Angels paying, for the first three nights in order for them to find housing.’’

With the pandemic, and given the booming population in the Huntsville metro area creating housing shortages, finding shelter was particularly tough this past season.

Fahrmann said the Trash Pandas tried to help players find housing, but with them unable to make long commitments to leases that made the process even more daunting.

“When we were calling around the apartment complexes, and these players were wanting to sign for month to month, they were just kind of laughing at me,’’ he said. “They were like, ‘That’s not going to happen.’ I know there’s been a housing shortage. It was hard for people even with regular jobs to find an apartment.’’

Adding to the problem has been, among other issues, hooking up utilities.

“Because these guys are here one week, gone the next and they might be coming back,’’ Fahrmann said. “It’s tough for these guys.’’

One of the more vocal critics of how players were treated in the minor leagues was Angels prospects Kieran Lovegrove, a pitcher who this past season was assigned to the Trash Pandas. He was featured in two ESPN stories decrying poor living conditions and dietary options for minor leaguers.

Lovegrove was a 2012 third-round draft pick for the Cleveland Indians who signed with the Angels in March and eventually landed with the Trash Pandas.

Lovegrove said his minor league salary made it difficult to find rooming options. In addition, during the pandemic, the players weren’t allowed to visit restaurants and had to rely on themselves or the club to provide sustenance.

He also said that during the entire month of May, he and other teammates paid out of pocket to live in hotel rooms while trying to find an apartment. One night, he said, after getting back to Madison in the early morning hours following an away game in Chattanooga, numerous players slept in the clubhouse at Toyota Field.

“You just keep pushing and pushing because you have the opportunity to do something incredible, which is play baseball,” Lovegrove said. “But I think it’s gotten to a point now where that payoff doesn’t match the sacrifice that we’re making.”

In the wake of the report from ESPN, and widespread complaints throughout the minor leagues, MLB issued this statement:

“MLB is engaged in a multi-year effort to modernize the minor league system and better assist players as they pursue their dreams of playing in the Major Leagues. In 2021, we increased the salaries for minor league players by 38-72%, depending on level, and significantly reduced travel requirements during the season. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of improvements to minor league ballparks around the country are already underway, including substantial renovations to player-facing facilities like locker rooms and training rooms. In mid-September, the owners discussed the issue of player housing and unanimously agreed to begin providing housing to certain minor league players. We are in the process of finalizing the details of that policy and expect it to be announced and in place for the 2022 season.”

Lovegrove reacted by saying that was “the bare minimum’’’ baseball should be doing for its prospects.

Fahrmann said the Trash Pandas, while hoping the parent Angels organization will take care of these issues, said another option is as old as minor league baseball itself: foster homes.

When the Huntsville Stars arrived in the Rocket City in 1985, a booster club provided some housing. That, Fahrmann said, is being looked at among team season ticket holders, but MLB would have to do background checks on potential host families and change its pandemic rules.

“Major League Baseball said no to host families (during the pandemic),’’ he said.

Perhaps MLBs plans to intervene will solve the problems of housing and nutrition.

As Lovegrove said, “This is the bare minimum in terms of taking care of your employees.”