FACES Magazine Issue: The Dominican Republic – 3 articles: Baseball is a Way of Life, Dominican Republic’s Top Baseball Stars, Baseball Next Stars: Dominican Youth Academies

Baseball is the heart and passion of the Dominican Republic. It is the number one sport and if a kid can hold a bat, he or she is playing baseball. This tiny country spawns more MLB  (Major League Baseball) players than any other country in the world, except for the U.S.

How do they do this? In Baseball is a Way of Life, you  learn that love of the game, talent, drive, respect, training and coaching are just part of mix. It’s the hunger for a better life that pushes so many young players along the road of baseball.

Baseball Next Stars: Dominican Youth Academies opens the window onto the culture of identifying and recruiting young talent – some as young as 12 or 13. They compete hard, many times from impoverished families and with the help of a buscon, to get the eye of one of the MLB team academies in the Dominican.

Hundreds of Dominican players are signed every year by the MLB. And many rise to the the premier level of baseball. In Dominican Republic’s Top Baseball Stars, five players are featured: Jose Alberto (Albert) Pujols, Robinson Jose Cano, David Ortiz, Nelson Ramon Cruz, and Jose Antonio Bautista.