Latin America’s Golden Age Of Baseball Is Here

Image credit: Juan Soto (left) and Ronald Acun~a Jr. teamed up on the Major League Baseball team that played Japan’s national team at the 2018 Japan All-Star Series in Tokyo in November. (Yuki Taguchi/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Welcome to Latin America’s golden age.

To get a better sense for which players will star in Latin America’s golden age, we highlighted the best 25-and-under talents from each country.

Why 25U? Because even international free agents who signed 10 signing classes ago, such as Nomar Mazara, German Marquez or Adalberto Mondesi, are still just 25 years old.

The number 25 is also symbolic of the fact that Latin American players crossed the 25-percent threshold of all major league plate appearances and innings in 2015 and have built on that share in the years since.

Some Latin American countries—Dominican Republic, Colombia and Nicaragua—saw their highest-ever number of major leaguers in 2019. Others such as Venezuela, Cuba and Curacao are just a tick below historical high-water marks.

The table below from TheBaseballGauge.com lists the number of major league players born in each country, their total plate appearances or innings in 2019 and estimated wins above replacement from Baseball-Reference.com.

Rk	Country	Players	PA	IP	WAR
1	USA	1,016	119,447	32,981	691.6
2	Dominican Republic	152	23,156	3,903	111.3
3	Venezuela	100	20,320	2,345	76.5
4	Cuba	29	6,951	333	28.9
5	Puerto Rico	28	5,348	524	25.9
6	Mexico	15	277	637	7.2
7	Canada	13	2,023	575	12.2
8	Colombia	9	1,887	397	8.4
9	Japan	7	555	729	9.3
	Panama	7	294	287	-1.3
11	Curacao	5	2,105	63	9.5
	South Korea	5	1,399	201	7.6
	Taiwan	5	111	105	-0.9
14	Nicaragua	4	330	42	-0.6
15	Germany	3	665	68	0.6
16	Australia	2	—	111	3.2
	Brazil	2	358	7	1.1
18	Aruba	1	698	—	5.2
	Netherlands	1	344	—	0.6
	Peru	1	—	12	0.5
	Honduras	1	111	—	0.4
	China	1	—	44	0.4
	Lithuania	1	—	9	-0.4
	Saudi Arabia	1	—	11	-0.6
	South Africa	1	—	16	-0.8