📊 MLB Players
Latin America's prominent and well-payed role in US baseball.
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In 2022, a Puerto Rican signed the 11th most valuable sports deal ever. It was a contract worth $341M over 10 years between Francisco Lindor and the New York Mets.
Right below him is Fernando Tatis Jr. from the Dominican Republic, who signed for $340M in exchange for 14 years with the San Diego Padres. Tatis Jr. is not even the highest-paid Dominican in the league. That title goes to Juan Soto, who plays for the Yankees for $31M a year.
You won't find another sports organization where so many Latin Americans can earn as much as they do in the MLB. Players from our region make up 25% of the league, with the Dominican Republic bringing in the most talent after the US.
Baseball is curiously prominent in Venezuela and the Hispanic Caribbean. The first league outside of North America started in Cuba in 1878, predating the country's independence. Some players regarded their participation as a revolutionary symbol against the Spaniards.
At the time, the US had a central role in the Caribbean and Central America, which lead to deep and lasting ties. The annexation of Puerto Rico, the United Fruit Company's troubling imperial presence, and the building of the Panama Canal come to mind.
Over a century later, baseball is the national sport of many countries in the region. All 30 MLB teams have academies in the Dominican Republic, where they scout and coach talent at a young age to go pro. Venezuela had a similar situation until relations with the US soured.
Still, all teams have at least five Latin American players on their rosters. The Houston Astros, who won the 2022 World Series, count 17, almost half of the team's total. The world-renowned New York Yankees are the league's 3rd most Latin American team. The Chicago White Sox stands out as the most Cuban team in the league. Yoan Moncada is their top star, who went from $0.5M to $25M per year with the White Sox.
And the Latin American fans? Despite having a relatively low MLB presence, Mexico has a local league with the world's 3rd-largest fan base.
We couldn't find many numbers on MLB audience sizes in the Caribbean. We turned to Google Trends, which suggests that, proportionally speaking, Venezuelans and Dominicans are 6x and 12x more interested in the MLB than people in the US.
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OK, OK we get it that our charts sometimes make people mad, but in this case, all we said was that there are no McDonald’s in Cuba.
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I love MLB and enjoyed learning the stadistics about the LatinAmerican players on the different teams.