Latino Community Not Represented in College Baseball

Posted on June 24, 2008
Filed Under News, Off The Bench | By Dan Mesure

In today’s Wall Street Journal, James Wagner reports on the diversity issue facing college baseball. According to the article, only 5 percent of college baseball players are Latino. Meanwhile, Latinos made up 29 percent of the MLB’s players last season. Although the issue looms over college baseball, the source of the problem is actually the politics of the Major League. As reported by Wagner:

“But when it comes to signing players, Major League Baseball has fewer constraints. The draft is limited to residents of the U.S. and Canada, but foreign players are free to sign with major-league teams as free agents when they are as young as age 16. And most teams are so eager to tap this pool of talent they have built baseball academies in Latin American countries to help recruit and train young prospects.”

College recruiters can’t compete with MLB teams throwing money at young kids. Sure, colleges can promise an education, and statistics show college players selected in the draft land larger signing bonuses. But Major League Baseball has already made its mark on the Latino community. What teenager would turn down an opportunity to make tons of money and be the next A-Rod or Pujols?

Actually, when looking at all current leading vote-getters for the 2008 All-Star Game, you can’t help but notice that only four of the 17 position players attended college – despite diversity. Not good news for college baseball.

National League
Lance Berkman - Rice
Chase Utley - UCLA
Chipper Jones - Did Not Attend
Hanley Ramirez - Did Not Attend
Geovany Soto - Did Not Attend
Alfonzo Soriano - Did Not Attend
Kosuke Fukudome - Did Not Attend
Ken Griffey, Jr. - Did Not Attend

American League
Kevin Youkilis – Cincinnati
Dustin Pedroia – Arizona State
Alex Rodriguez - Did Not Attend
Derek Jeter - Did Not Attend
Joe Mauer - Did Not Attend
David Ortiz - Did Not Attend
Manny Ramirez - Did Not Attend
Josh Hamilton - Did Not Attend
Ichiro Suzuki – Did Not Attend

(Graphic Source: WSJ, Player Bio Source: ESPN)

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One Response to “Latino Community Not Represented in College Baseball”

  1. Baseball News Aggregator » Latino Community Not Represented in College Baseball on June 24th, 2008 3:18 pm

    […] Original post here […]

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