After the United States military conducted a raid in Caracas that captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, the South American country had the third-largest number of players on Major League Baseball rosters in 2025 was plunged into an uncertain future.
Multiple MLB Players Are Currently In Venezuela – Many Venezuelan players return to the country during Major League Baseball’s offseason, and a lot of them make cameo appearances for their hometown teams in the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, the country’s professional winter league. Generally, they start returning as the winter ball playoffs begin, as there’s generally about one week between the end of the Caribbean Series and the start of MLB spring training.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported yesterday that the Milwaukee Brewers, who have five Venezuelan players on their 40-man roster, don’t know much about the status of their players who are in the country at the moment.
“We don’t have much info at the moment but are trying to follow up,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold told the Journal Sentinel. “We know the airports have been shut down but not much beyond that.”
Among the Brewers known to be in Venezuela is budding superstar Jackson Chourio, who has played in eight games this winter for the Aguilas del Zulia in his hometown of Maracaibo, where he’s batted .400 in 30 at-bats with a homer and five RBIs. He drove in the game-winner for Zulia in Friday’s night’s 4-3 win over the Navegantes de Magallanes with a solo homer in the top of the 10th. Other Brewers from Venezuela include pitcher Angel Zerpa, catchers William Contreras and Jeferson Quero, and shortstop Andruw Monasterio.
A report in the San Francisco Chronicle by Susan Slusser indicated that two of the Giants Venezuelan players, outfielder Luis Matos and catcher Jesus Rodriguez, are in the country playing winter ball, while a third, reliever Jose Butto, is spending the winter in Florida.
Rodriguez told the Chronicle that he is safe, but can’t leave Venezuela for a few days, at minimum, as commercial aviation is mostly shut down in the country.
A review of flight tracking website FlightAware by World Baseball Network on Sunday morning showed little commercial air traffic over Venezuela, with one flight operated by LASER Airlines, a Venezuelan carrier, flying between Maiquetía Airport in Caracas and Maracaibo.
Copa Airlines, a Panamanian carrier, was one of the last foreign airlines flying in and out of Venezuela, but suspended service from Panama City to Maiquetía Airport in Caracas last month. The major U.S. airlines stopped flying to Venezuela before the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, with United and Delta discontinuing service in 2017 and American Airlines ceasing flights to Venezuela in 2019.
Keyvius Sampson, who pitched in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds in 2015 and 2016 and spent the past four winters pitching for the Cardenales de Lara of the LVBP, told World Baseball Network that travel to and from Venezuela isn’t easy.
“I had to go to Colombia first for a night to grab my visa, then I’d catch a flight to Venezuela. Coming back, I went through Panama,” Sampson told WBN.
Pitchers and catchers are expected to report to MLB spring training Feb. 9-12, with different teams having different reporting dates. Players who are participating in the 2026 World Baseball Classic often have earlier dates by which they must report to spring training.
Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional Playoffs Suspended – On Sunday morning, Ignacio Serrano of El Emergente reported that the LVBP games scheduled for Sunday had been suspended.