NEW YORK – A record 109 players from the Dominican Republic were on opening-day major league rosters, boosted by an expanded pool following the layoff caused by the coronavirus pandemic.Major League Baseball said Friday that 288 of 1,026 players on opening-day rosters were born outside the 50 states, which comes to 28.1%.
That is down slightly from 28.5% last year, 29% in 2018 and a record 29.8% in 2017.Total players born outside the 50 states topped the previous high of 259 in 2017.Dominican players were 10.6% of the big leagues, down from 11.6% last year and the record 11.7% in 2007, when there were 99 of 849.Players came from 20 countries and territories, matching last year and one shy of the high in 2018.