9 Dominican players on World Series rosters

Anyone that has ever visited the Dominican Baseball Guy blog knows that Dominican players have figured prominently at all levels of Major League Baseball in recent years. The total number of Dominican baseball players on MLB rosters 2012 was 11% this year. That number has remained steady and grown in recent years, and it holds up in the playoffs for the most part.

This year there are nine Dominican players in the World Series out of a total of 50 players. The total 18% of players coming from the Dominican Republic nearly doubles that regular season percentage. Further, according to Latino Voices on the Huffington post, 22 Latino will play in the World Series. Nearly half of the World Series players come from Latin America!

And that means the Dominican Republic and Venezuela for the most part. The two countries are the Latin baseball power houses of the MLB. USA Today and the New York Times felt the need to point out the banner year for Venezuelan players in the World Series, as there are also nine Venezuelan players, including the recent triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera. And they failed to mention the equal number of Dominican Republic baseball players in this year's World Series.

Dominican players have featured so prominently in both the regular season and the playoffs in recent years, that perhaps major publications do not see it as newsworthy that their are a lot of Dominicans in the World Series. Last year there were eight Dominican players in the World Series. Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez, among other Dominican players, have dominated on the biggest baseball stage of them all.

Dominican natives have summed up what it means to have their countrymen competing on the biggest stage. A librarian in San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic said years ago that "we root for whichever team has more Dominicans. They remind me of players that I have seen in my own town, so we want them to do well and represent our country."

Juan Uriste, another Dominican baseball fan from San Francisco de Macoris told the Dominican baseball guy through email that "Dominicans are following the series closely as always, but we don't know who to root for because both teams have several Dominican players each."

Dominican baseball player Ramon Santiago could
feature prominently in 2012 World Series,
photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

They have their choice of the Tigers who feature six Dominicans on their active roster: Jhonny Peralta, Al Alburquerque, Joaquin Benoit, Octavio Dotel, Jose Valverde, Ramon Santiago. Or, the Giants who have pitchers Santiago Casilla and Guillermo Mota, and position player Joaquín Árias on their World Series roster.

Pretty incredible that a country of just 15 million people could put that many players in the World Series, compared to the 300 million people and the 25 or so American players competing. The percentages are simply astounding.

Dominican players in MLB playoffs 2012: NLCS edition

The 2012 NLCS is under way and the Cardinals currently lead the Giants 3-1, and are looking to clinch the series tonight in San Francisco. There are some Dominican players in this years NLCS, but not as many as we have seen in other playoff series.

The Cardinals have a whopping zero Dominican players on their roster, after having one of the top Dominican baseball players of all-time on their roster for over a decade, in Albert Pujols. They do have Miakel Cleto, Victor Marte, and Rafael Furcal on their 40-man roster.

Furcal, the twelve year MLB veteran was a major part of the Cardinals World Series championship last year and a big part of the team this year, as he made his third All-Star game. Also a former Dominican Winter Baseball League player and a Caribbean Series All-Star in 2008, Furcal injured his elbow at the end of August and has not played since.

The Giants have several Dominicans on their active roster for the NLCS. Playing for the Giants will be pitchers Santiago Casilla and Guillermo Mota, and position player Joaquín Árias.

Dominican player Jaoquin Arias is one of three Dominican
players on active rosters in 2012 NLCS, photo by Aunti Juli

Interesting that Árias appeared in 112 regular season games, even though he was not an everyday player. He seemed to be the first pinch hitter off the Giants bench and has continued that role through four games of the NLCS. Thus far, the two year MLB player has appeared in five post season games and has three hits.

Santiago Casilla is in his ninth MLB season, and got his first chance to be an everyday closer this season. With 25 saves on the year and a 2.24 ERA, Casilla was entrenched as the closer until he injured his fingers. The Giants then went with a closer by committee approach, but Casilla could still be called upon to close some NLCS games. So far in the playoffs, he has pitched 4.1 innings and allowed just one earned run.

Guillermo Mota has been a solid mid-inning reliever in the big leagues since 2002. He appeared in 26 games this year with the Giants, and has pitched 1.2 innings in the playoffs and allowed four runs. A 21.6 ERA is not a great start, so I doubt to see him much more unless the Giants are in a bind.

While the Dominican players in MLB playoffs on American League rosters was 16% of all players, in the NLCS only 6% of the players are Dominican natives, way off the overall MLB percentage of Dominican players.