NEW YORK -- A record 109 players from the Dominican Republic were on Opening Day rosters across Major League Baseball, boosted by an expanded pool following the layoff caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Major League Baseball said 288 of the 1,026 total players on the Opening Day rosters were born outside the 50 states, which comes to 28.1%. That is down slightly from 28.5% last year, 29% in 2018 and a record 29.8% in 2017.
Total players born outside the 50 states topped the previous high of 259 in 2017.
Dominican players comprise 10.6% of those in the majors, down from 11.6% last year and the record 11.7% in 2007, when there were 99 of 849.
Players came from 20 countries and territories, matching last year and one shy of the high in 2018.
San Francisco Giants shortstop Mauricio Dubon became the first Honduran to make an Opening Day roster.
Of the 1,026 players in the pool, 896 were active, 109 on injured lists, 20 on the restricted list and one on the bereavement list.
Last year's Opening Day rosters included 251 of 882 players born outside the 50 states.
Active rosters increased to 30 for the first two weeks of this season but will drop gradually to 26, up one from the previous limit for the first five months of the season.
Venezuela was second with 75 players, followed by Cuba with 22 and Puerto Rico with 20, its highest total since 20 in 2011.
Canada, Japan and Mexico tied with nine, and Colombia had seven. They were followed by Panama (5), Curacao and South Korea (4), Australia (3), Nicaragua and Taiwan (2). Aruba, Brazil, Germany, Honduras, Lithuania and the Netherlands each had one.
Canada had its most players since nine in 2015, and Colombia topped it previous high of five in 2018. Panama's total was its most since seven in 2012.
The Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins have the most players born outside the 50 states with 15 each, two more than the Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins and New York Yankees.