If you paid any attention to your baseball cards as a kid, you have to know that the Dominican Republic (DR) is the "Hometown" that comes up more than any other. Amazingly, in 2012 11% of the players in the Major Leagues came from the Dominican Republic alone. Venezuela is not far behind. What is it with these guys in the Caribbean?
The best explanation I have heard came from a mixed Afro-Indigenous Nicaraguan guy I met in Costa Rica who had been in Major League farm systems in Nicaragua. He said that in these countries, it's always warm and lots of guys just play baseball every day, all year. They go to baseball academies and schools. They just have a ton of practice.
That can't be the whole story... genetics must be involved. But it definitely could be a piece of the puzzle.
Great movie about DR baseball system
Sugar (Azucar) (2008)
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