The global game of baseball is ever-expanding to different countries and regions worldwide.
Now more than ever, Major League Baseball’s diversity is something to admire. Historically, international-born MLB players primarily hail from Latin American and Caribbean nations, most notably the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
According to an X (formerly Twitter) post from MLB Español, 145 Dominican-born and 92 Venezuelan-born players took the field during the 2025 MLB season. Their list included 34 participants from Cuba, 27 from Puerto Rico, 15 from Mexico, eight from Colombia, six from Panama, four from Curacao, three from Nicaragua, two from Aruba, and one player each from the Bahamas, Honduras, and Peru.
¡Orgullo y talento! 🫡 Latinoamérica y el Caribe estuvo bien representada en la temporada 2025 de MLB. 🌎⚾️ pic.twitter.com/PTG0mWvgSr
— MLB Español (@mlbespanol) November 6, 2025
Sometime down the road, future stars will join that club. Fifteen days remain in the 2024-25 international signing period, an opportunity for youngsters, primarily teenagers, to watch their dream of playing professional baseball come true.
Some, not all, of these players will advance to the Major Leagues. But where they come from is a reminder that evaluating and discovering baseball’s next superstars is a worldwide task.
Francys Romero reported in a post on X that since the 2024-25 signing period began on January 15, 1,011 players from 23 different countries have signed as international prospects with MLB organizations. Once again, the D.R. (441) and Venezuela (386) reign supreme.
https://x.com/francysromeroFR/status/1995869609153482878
Though, as noted previously, talent can come from anywhere—five players signed from Taiwan, four from Italy, and two from Brazil. Included in Romero’s list was the first player to sign from South Sudan, 17-year-old pitcher Joseph Deng.
The posting system is another element of MLB’s integration of international flair, with players from Asia transitioning from leagues such as Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, the Korea Baseball Organization in South Korea, and the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan.
The system helps fans in the United States, who are generally accustomed only to watching the big names in MLB, learn more about the players themselves and their style of play. It’s one of the reasons Japanese players like Munetaka Murakami, Tatsuya Imai, and Kazuma Okamoto are trending topics of conversation this offseason.
Shohei Ohtani’s rise to becoming one of the best baseball players of all time showcases why teams scout so heavily in Japan. The next Ohtani may or may not be out there, but rest assured, someone is doing their due diligence to find out.
Of course, the upcoming World Baseball Classic should only help the game expand further. The WBC, a tournament featuring 20 nations, with current MLB players representing their own or their families’ ethnic backgrounds, is an excellent opportunity for fanbases to keep an eye on their favorite players before spring training.
But the WBC also allows fans to watch players from outside MLB, including some who are currently competing in winter leagues or play professionally in places like Mexico or the Netherlands during the summer.
So if you are anxious for the WBC to start and want to get to know the players who could be on MLB’s international players list next season, there is baseball to watch in the meantime.
Baseball is, and always will be, a global game, as seen in the recent rise of international talent in MLB. It’s a lot more fun that way.
Photo: Bahamas native Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the New York Yankees is one of many players who’ve played in Major League Baseball in recent years as the game’s reach has extended abroad. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
