MLB
Houston Astros, the team with the most international players on Opening Day
The Houston franchise registered the highest number of international baseball players on its roster for the start of the 2024 Major League Baseball season.
In Major League Baseball, many of the brightest stars are players who were not born in the United States. For instance, Ronald Acuña Jr., from Venezuela, was the NL MVP last year. Shohei Ohtani, from Japan, holds the highest contract in MLB history. Juan Soto, from the Dominican Republic, is a brand-new player for the New York Yankees.
Since 1995, Major League Baseball has kept track of how many international players are on each team’s roster at the start of the season. As of 2024, there are 264 international players in the MLB, accounting for about 28 percent of available spots. The majority of these players come from the Dominican Republic (108), followed by Venezuela (58) and Cuba (18). Some countries have only one representative in the league, such as Germany, Aruba, Bahamas, Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, and South Africa.
The Major League team with the most international players
The Houston Astros have the most international players on their MLB Opening Day roster with a total of 16, while the San Diego Padres closely followed with 15 players born outside of the USA.
Among the international players on the opening day roster, there are pitchers from the Dominican Republic including Framber Valdez, Ronel Blanco, Cristian Javier, and Rafael Montero, as well as South African pitcher Taylor Scott. Unfortunately, Mexican pitcher José Urquidy, Venezuelan pitcher Luis García, and Dominican pitcher Oliver Ortega are on the injured list.
In terms of infielders, the Astros have Dominicans Yainer Díaz and Jeremy Peña, Cuban José Abreu, Venezuelan José Altuve, Puerto Rican Victor Caratini, Mexican César Salazar, and Honduran Mauricio Dubón. However, the team only has one international outfielder, Cuban player Yordan Álvarez.