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| Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches in the first inning of his team's spring exhibition league game against the Los Angeles Angels in Phoenix, Ariz., March 12. Korea has five players on the April 2 opening day roster of Major League Baseball. / AP-Yonhap |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Major League Baseball (MLB) reported on Monday that a record number of 259 foreign players are on the April 2 opening day rosters of the new baseball season.
The foreign players make up 29.8 percent of the league's 868 players including 749 active 25-man roster players and 199 disabled, suspended or restricted MLB players. Those players are from 19 different countries. The previous record for the percentage of foreign born players was 29.2 percent in 2005. MLB began releasing this annual data in 1995.
The Dominican Republic has the most players on MLB rosters with 93 players, followed by Venezuela with 77, Cuba with 23 and Puerto Rico with 16. The Minnesota Twins' outfielder Max Kepler became the German born player in major league history and also the highest paid European player.
Following Canada with eight players on rosters, Korea has the eighth most players with five -- Choo Shin-soo of the Texan Rangers; Oh Seung-hwan of the St. Louis Cardinals; Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Kim Hyun-soo of the Baltimore Orioles; and Kang Jung-ho of the Pittsburgh Pirates who is on the restricted list.
MLB added that the Rangers have the most foreign-born players with 14, followed by the San Diego Padres (12); the Seattle Mariners (12); the Chicago White Sox (11); the Cleveland Indians (11); the Dodgers (11) and the Philadelphia Phillies (11). The Kansas City Royals have the most players from different countries at eight, followed by the Dodgers and the Mariners at seven.
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