2012 MLB All-Star rosters feature 8 Dominican players

The 2012 MLB All-Star game roster were announced Sunday and there are eight Dominican players among the All-Star invitees.

Interesting that six out of the eight Dominican players featured in the All-Star game were voted in by the fans of starters. Out of 18 position starters on the NL and AL squad, that means that 33% of the starters in the All-Star game come from the Dominican Republic. This is a huge number, considering that 11% of MLB players are Dominican.

But, alas the overall number of total Dominicans on the 2012 MLB All-Star rosters is right at the percentage of Dominicans players in Major League Baseball. Eight of a total of around 70 players in the All-Star game are Dominican, which comes to 11%.

Four out of the nine position starters on the AL team are Dominican players, along with one pitcher:

• Robinson Cano is starting for the third strait time and making his fourth appearance overall. He is from San Pedro de Macoris, Republica Dominicana.
• Adrian Beltre is starting for the second strait year and is playing in his third strait All-Star game. Beltre is from the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo.
• Jose Bautista set the all-time votes record last year, only to have that record broken by Josh Hamilton this year.  He is from Santo Domingo too.
• David Ortiz is an All-Star for the eighth time, also from Santo Domingo.
• Fernando Rodney is from Samana, Dominican Republic and is playing in his first All-Star game.

There are two Dominican starters and one Dominican reserve player on the NL squad:

• Rafael Furcal made his third All-Star game in his thirteenth year in the bigs. Not surprising, considering he was named the Dominican Baseball Guy player of the week earlier this season. He is from Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic.
• Melky Cabrera is from Santo Domingo and is appearing in his first mid-summer classic.
• Starlin Castro will play in his second All-Star game in just his third big league season. He is from Monte Cristi, DR.

See all these top Dominican players and the rest of the MLB All-Stars July 10, 2012 on FOX.

Dominican player of the week: Rafael Furcal of the Saint Louis Cardinals

There is still one really good Dominican baseball player in Saint Louis, and his name is not Albert Pujols.  Cards fans are perhaps happy to have this other Dominican player this season with the way the two players seasons are going.

Rafael Furcal is by far outplaying Pujols thus far.  This week he played well enough to win the Dominican baseball player of the week.  In five games this week, Furcal hit .667, with 14 hits, 4 runs, 2 stolen bases.  He added a couple walks to up his on-base percentage to .696.

He has been in the big leagues for 13 seasons, and Furcal is off to one of his hottest starts ever.  He is batting .383 with 16 RBI through 33 games.  His on-base percentage is pushing .450.  But, this will never hold up.  His career high average for a season that he played a full work load is .300, which came back in 2006 and 2008.

Furcal is what he is: a well above average fielder and a quality top of the order hitter that also has lots of post season experience, and a World Series title.  While this start cannot hold up, it is good enough for the Dominican player of the week this week.

Furcal is from Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic.

Other Dominicans in week 4: Robinson Cano (.500, 3 2B, HR, 6 RBI) from San Pedro de Macoris.

Dominican player of the week Rafael Furcal with the Dodgers in 2010, photo by SD Dirk on Flickr

Dominican Player of the Week: Juan Francisco of the Atlanta Braves

The Dominican Baseball Guy has awarded Juan Francisco of the Braves as his Dominican Player of the Week. Juan hit .375 with three home runs last week, and got some votes for player of the week in the National League.

It is no secret Juan Francisco is one of the favorite players of the Dominican Baseball Guy.  He was playing with the Gigantes del Cibao in 2009, the year I followed the Gigantes for the entire Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) season.  That year he won the MVP of the Dominican Winter League, and he also won it in 2009.  He was either at the top or close to the top of the LIDOM in home runs, RBI, and average in both of those years.

He had a slower year this past off-season in the LIDOM.  As he has gotten closer and closer to securing a regular big league gig, his playing time in LIDOM has gone down.  He had played in 81 big league games going into this season for the Reds, but they decided to trade him this off-season.

His power is his calling card.  Juan is one of the best guys to see in batting practice.  Kids line the outside of the stadium waiting for him to hit them balls, which they will use to play at their own games and practices.  During games, the stadium always stopped for Juan Francisco, aka "El Diamante."  Not sure where the nickname came from, but during that year the announcers started calling him "The Diamond of Bonao."  Francisco is from Bonao, Republica Dominicana.  I saw him hit one shot in San Francisco de Macoris at the Julian Javier stadium that I swore went over the lights.  We all lost it in the lights, and people were saying "he hit it to the moon."

Lots of people say that he is a below average fielder and that he strikes out a lot.  And he does.  But the Dominican Baseball Guy still thinks he is going to be a star, as I predicted two years ago when I first saw him play in Dominican Winter League action.  I think his power and his clutch play will be enough to outweigh deficiencies elsewhere.  He won a lot of games for the Gigantes that season with late inning heroics.  And, after all, I cannot go back on my prediction now.

The only other Dominican player to receive votes in the player of the week race in either league was Rafael Furcal of Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic.

Dominican player of the week Juan Francisco bats in the Midwest League in 2007, photo by Joel Dinda on Flickr

Dominican baseball players in Opening Day game, Peloteros Dominicanos juegan en el primer dia de la temporada MLB

It is finally opening day and the Reds and Marlins have just kicked off the first day of the MLB season, well not counting that opening game or two played in Japan.

So...you ask...how many Dominican baseball players will be playing in this Opening Day game?

Well the Cardinals start Rafael Furcal, and...crickets.  That is the only Dominican player the Cardinals have on the roster.  That has to be some kind of record, only one Dominican baseball player on the entire roster.  But it is so.  Furcal is from Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic.

The Marlins on the other hand, have a few Dominican players on their roster.  They have Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, and Emilio Bonificio all starting.  And that is it.  Reyes is from Villa Gonzalez, Ramirez is from Samana, and Bonificio is from the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo.

This is a pretty small number of Dominican baseball players represented on these two teams.  It is just below the ten percent mark of last season for Dominican players on MLB rosters to start the year.  We should see the total number of Dominican baseball players on opening day rosters for this season in the next couple days.

Hanley Ramirez is one of several Dominican baseball players to start on opening day,
photo by afagen on Flickr