The percentage of baseball players in the Major Leagues born outside of the United States rose to its third highest level.  Out of 856 players, 243 were born outside of the U.S.  This year’s 28.4% of foreign players is higher than last year’s which was 27.7% yet falls behind 2005 and 2009’s percentages.  During both of these years, the percentage of foreign players was at 29.2% and 29%.

The Dominican Republic, with 95 players, tops the list of countries with Major League players, even though their number is slightly lower than its highest of 99 in 2007.  Venezuela is listed as second with 66 players which is an increase by four from last year.  The list continues with 15 players from Canada and 13 from Japan.  Cuba and Puerto Rico each had 11, yet this is the lowest total for Puerto Rico since 1995.  Mexico has nine players, while Panamá has seven.  Curacao and Australia both list four players, Nicaragua three, Taiwan two, while Colombia, Italy and South Korea each list one player in the Major Leagues. 

Kansas City is the team with the most foreign born players.  They list 13 players, while Colorado and the New York Yankees both have twelve players.  The minor leagues show a 46.47% of foreign players which is a decrease from the beginning of last season.