Baseball is a Global Game
Players born in the United States, the Dominican Republic or Venezuela accounted for 90 percent of all players who suited up for major league clubs or domestic minor league affiliates in 2016. More than two-thirds of those players hail from the U.S.
According to records kept by Baseball America, nearly 7,500 players from 38 different birth countries participated in affiliated U.S. baseball last year. Our head count does not include those professionals who played only in the Dominican Summer League last year.
The following 23 countries had five or more representatives play U.S. affiliated ball in 2016, from the Rookie-level Arizona and Gulf Coast leagues to the American and National leagues.
| No | Country Of Birth |
Players | Percent Of Pool |
| 1 | United States | 5,043 | 67.34% |
| 2 | Dominican Republic | 1,117 | 14.92% |
| 3 | Venezuela | 628 | 8.39% |
| 4 | Puerto Rico | 163 | 2.18% |
| 5 | Canada | 92 | 1.23% |
| 6 | Mexico | 91 | 1.22% |
| 7 | Cuba | 82 | 1.09% |
| 8 | Panama | 52 | 0.69% |
| 9 | Colombia | 38 | 0.51% |
| 10 | Australia | 29 | 0.39% |
| 11 | Curacao | 24 | 0.32% |
| 12 | Nicaragua | 17 | 0.23% |
| Taiwan | 17 | 0.23% | |
| 14 | South Korea | 14 | 0.19% |
| 15 | Japan | 11 | 0.15% |
| 16 | Brazil | 10 | 0.13% |
| 17 | Aruba | 7 | 0.09% |
| Bahamas | 7 | 0.09% | |
| Germany | 7 | 0.09% | |
| Netherlands | 7 | 0.09% | |
| 21 | South Africa | 6 | 0.08% |
| 22 | Italy | 5 | 0.07% |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 5 | 0.07% |
The following 15 countries had either one (0.01 percent) or two (0.03 percent) representatives in U.S. affiliated baseball last year.
| No | Country Of Birth |
Players | Players |
| 24 | Guam | 2 | RHP Sean Reid-Foley, 1B Trae Santos |
| Saudi Arabia | 2 | RHP Alex Robinett, RHP Alex Wilson | |
| 26 | China | 1 | OF Gui-Yuan Xu |
| Czech Republic | 1 | C Martin Cervenka | |
| England | 1 | RHP Michael Petersen | |
| Guatemala | 1 | C Fabian Vizcaino | |
| Haiti | 1 | OF Estevan Florial | |
| Honduras | 1 | RHP Denis Diaz | |
| India | 1 | LHP Rinku Singh | |
| Ireland | 1 | LHP P.J. Conlon | |
| Jamaica | 1 | RHP Justin Masterson | |
| Lithuania | 1 | RHP Dovydas Neverauskas | |
| Moldova | 1 | RHP Vadim Balan | |
| Poland | 1 | LHP Artur Strzalka | |
| St. Maarten | 1 | OF Isranel Wilson |
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