The biggest name league in the world is Major League Baseball. It’s the oldest major professional sports league in the world and was started in 1876 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It’s been called the American pastime for over a century, and the diversity of the league reflected that sentiment. The game was popular in Latin America as well, and the development of academies is responsible for the statistic – that the top country producing baseball players is the United States, followed by four Latin American states. J.J. Cooper is a reputable baseball writer and is the editor-in-chief of the website this statistic is on and has worked for the website for 20 years.
10.26% of players on opening day rosters in the 2020-21 season were from the Dominican Republic. The 80 players include some of the biggest names in the baseball world, and past years lists reflect this as well. For the past 10 years, the Dominican Republic has been second only to the US in players on opening day MLB rosters.
| Country | Players | % |
| United States of America | 561 | 71.92% |
| Dominican Republic | 80 | 10.26% |
| Venezuela | 54 | 6.92% |
| Puerto Rico | 19 | 2.44% |
| Cuba | 17 | 2.18% |