Three of the most famous players in San Francisco Giants history from left to right Willie Mays, Juan Marichal and Willie McCovey. Marichal is the most famous player to come out of the Dominican Republic and is known as the Dominican Dandy. (AP file photo)

Dominican Republic is solid #1 in Talent

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

When it comes to talent from Latin America, our friends in the Dominican Republic are leading the way. According to all available data, the country of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, had 100 players on opening day rosters for the 2025 season.

Since Major League began collecting this data in 1995, the Dominicanos have led the way. From Juan Marichal and Pedro Martínez to Albert Pujols, David Ortíz, Vladimir Guerrero, and Adrián Beltré, Dominicans are on top.

Some of today’s biggest stars, are Dominican stars, and names (if you follow the game) that you recognize right away; Ronald Acuña, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr, Julio Rodríguez, José Ramírez, Rafael Devers, Wander Franco, Oneil Cruz, Elly De La Cruz, Luis Castillo, Eury Pérez, Emmanuel Clase, Framber Valder and more. Internationally, the Dominicans remain a constant in the game.

The Leones del Escogido (Dominican Republic) were this year’s champions of the Caribbean Series, beating the Charros de Jalisco (México), for their fifth title of the Caribbean Series. When the Caribbean Series first began in 1949, Cuba was the dominant force.

The Caribbean Series was an annual event that ran from 1949 to 1960. During this period, Cuba won the title seven times, including five consecutive championships from 1956 to 1960. Not a coincidence that things changed in Cuba regarding baseball.

Why? Notable: Cuba’s dominance stopped in 1960 when Fidel Castro declared Cuba a communist country. Since then, some of the best talent from the largest island in the Caribbean defected from the island to play in the best league in the World, the Major Leagues.

But that talent has dried up now for decades; the Cuban government has destroyed just about everything that was a tradition in Cuba, like baseball. As a Cuban-born person who loved baseball since I could walk, it is sad what happened to baseball in Cuba.

Cuba was a pioneer for baseball in Latin America. Baseball arrived in Cuba in the 1860s, brought by students returning from the United States and American sailors. But today the Dominicans rule. Not only in the Major League, they lead the Caribbean Series with 22 championships (you can say they are similar to the NY Yankees), in MLB with 27 titles, and World Series Championships.

To date, the Caribbean series has seen the Dominican Republic win 22 championships, followed by Puerto Rico with 16, Mexico with 9, Cuba with 8, Venezuela with 8, Panama with 2, and Colombia with 1.

Quote: In the 1980’s when Billy Martin arrived from New York to Oakland to manage the A’s I spoke with Billy, many times prior and sometimes after games, one thing he told me always stuck with me, when I asked him why he likes Latino players so much, he told me: “Because Latinos play with the same passion I had for the game as a player” As volatile he was as a manager, I loved his aggressive style and his drive to win each game home or away. Billy Martin was one of my favorite managers. Good thing he did not live to see the instant replay system–we have today- or he would have killed an umpire.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez – Cuban-born Pi-González is one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball play-by-play in America. Began as Oakland A’s Spanish-language voice in 1977 ending in 2024 (interrupted by stops with the Giants, Mariners and Angels). Voice of the Golden State Warriors from 1992 through 1998. 2010 inducted in the Bay Area Radio Hall of fame.

While in the Bay Area, great food and great prices. 998cuba.com