List of Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico

Location of Puerto Rico's main island (green)

Puerto Rico currently has the fourth-most active players in Major League Baseball (MLB) among Latin American jurisdictions, behind the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Cuba.^[1] More than three hundred players from the archipelago have played in the major leagues since 1926. This includes players who were born in either one of the archipelago's islands and those of Puerto Rican heritage. Only those players who have worked in the major leagues are listed, not those active in the minor leagues, nor negro independent leagues.

For years, it was considered that the first player from Puerto Rico to play in the major leagues was Hiram Bithorn.^[2] But this changed on December 16, 2020, when seven negro baseball leagues were finally classified as major or big leagues, only for the periods between 1920 and 1948. Thus, the first Puerto Rican to play baseball on the major leagues was Jose "Gacho" Torres. Then, after the baseball color line was abandoned following Jackie Robinson's debut in the National League of the MLB, more players from the island signed contracts. This led to an improvement in their performance, and some of them were selected to participate in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Including their names in the Major League Baseball draft is a requisite for first-year players born in Puerto Rico, because the league recognizes the island as a jurisdiction within the United States.^[3] Following the implementation of this measure, Puerto Rico's government requested exclusion from the draft and help to develop players, in order to reduce the impact of the change in the format of talent development.^[3]

Historical performance and regulations[]

Baseball was introduced to Puerto Rico by immigrants during the nineteenth century. The first sanctioned baseball game in the island was played on January 9, 1898, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, where two teams composed of Puerto Rican, American and Cuban players participated.^[4] After this game, baseball became a widespread sport and professional and amateur leagues were organized. During this time period, the Puerto Rico national teams experienced success on international competition and Afro-Puerto Rican players began to participate in the Negro leagues.^[5]

Map listing the countries that participated in the first edition of the World Baseball Classic

Hiram Bithorn debuted as a pitcher with the Chicago Cubs on April 15, 1942,^[2] but before him, there where about 10 other players who worked on the negro leagues, now considered as major leagues. About 17 other Puerto Rican players in the negro leagues were active right before the introduction of African American players in Major League Baseball, and thus, there were more chances to players born in the island. Subsequently, Afro-Puerto Rican players such as Orlando Cepeda and Victor Pellot Power began having solid performances in the league, and were selected to participate in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.^[6] In 1973, Roberto Clemente became the first player from Puerto Rico and first Latin American to be elected as a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.^[7] Since then Puerto Rico has kept a stable number of players in the league. During this timeframe, several players have been selected to participate in the All-Star Game or won awards for their performance, while others imposed records within the league. These include Javy López, who holds the record for most home runs hit by a catcher in a single season.^[8] Both Iván Rodríguez and Roberto Alomar hold the record for most Gold Glove Awards in their positions.^[9][10] Recipients of the Most Valuable Player Award include Orlando Cepeda, Juan González and Iván Rodríguez. Roberto Clemente and Mike Lowell also won the World Series MVP Award in their respective divisions.^[11] Carlos Delgado is the only Latin to hit 4 homers in a game.

Originally, players who were either born or naturalized in Puerto Rico were able to sign with MLB teams as free agents, usually receiving minor-league contracts prior to their debut in the league. In 1989, Major League Baseball decided to include the island in the list of jurisdictions within the United States, which made mandatory that first-year players include their name in the Major League Baseball Draft in order to receive a contract.^[3] This was based on an initiative that was supposed to create a national and international drafting system. The change reduced the number of players that were able to participate in the league, by limiting the number of them selected by the teams;^[3] this led to the island's Secretary of Recreation and Sports, to formally ask to Major League's involvement in developing specialized schools to produce more players and other measures to reduce the impact of the draft's implementation.^[3] The original proposal included Puerto Rico's exclusion of the draft for a period of ten years, but this was not approved by the league.

Puerto Rico was one of sixteen teams to participate in the inaugural edition of the World Baseball Classic.^[12] The tournament was created by Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world, including the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. The first event was organized in 2006, and was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation. Puerto Rico won the silver medal on both 2013 and 2017 classics. The Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico hosted 22 Montreal Expos home games in 2003, after the league decided to relocate the team to San Juan as part of an experiment to "globalize" baseball.^[13] During the series there was an average attendance of 14,222.^[14]

List of players[]

This includes baseball players from Puerto Rico that played in the Negro Leagues for the period between 1920 to 1948 and in the MLB (AL or NL) from 1942 to the present day. It is important to mention that some players from the negro leagues are not included in the list because they are still under research, since no evidence has been found so far of any participation in at least a single game. While the majority of the players were born on the island, the list also includes players born on the mainland US or its territories to Puerto Rican parents (both or one of them) or that have grandparents from Puerto Rico. Also, the list includes Puerto Rican players with Dominican or Cuban heritage. Puerto Ricans typically consider the diaspora as their own.

A–E[]

Carlos Beltrán

Ramón Castro

F–L[]

Rubén Gotay

Javier López

Mike Lowell

M–Q[]

Bengie and Yadier Molina

Joel Piñeiro

Jorge Posada

R–W[]

Iván Rodríguez

Rubén Sierra

Bernie Williams

Other players related to Puerto Rico but not included in the list[]

The following baseball players were not considered for the official list of Puerto Ricans in Major Leagues:

• - Played for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League, but played in 1949, a period not elegible to be considered as a major league.
• Pedro Cepeda- One of the most powerful Puerto Rican Negro players ever, Perucho was included in the 1940's New York Cubans roster, but refused to debut.
• - An extraordinary all-around Puerto Rican player in the 1930's Negro leagues, but played for independent clubs which make him not elegible. However, he does not appear in any baseball reference site, so he is still on research until further data becomes available.
• Coco Crisp- Not enough data.
• Reggie Jackson- MLB included him on 2012 All Time Latino Team since his granmother was Puerto Rican according to some media. Not enough data.
• Mychal Givens- Puerto Rican great-grandmother, not elegible.
• - Was ascended for the 2021 Cleveland Indians big team, but never played. Did not officially debut in MLB.
• - Though in uniform for two days for the 1990 Pittsburgh Pirates, Moreno did not officially debut in MLB.
• - Larry Lester's Negro Leagues book billed him as Bill Ortiz, but still no evidence that he ever played a game.
• Tony Pérez- Puerto Rican by "adoption", Atanasio "Tany" Pérez was born in Cuba and is the father of Eduardo Pérez, of Puerto Rican mother.
• - Aniceto Rivera played for the Pollock's Cuban Stars in 1933. Specifically for that year, the team was an independent club, not affiliated to the East-West Negro League, thus he is not elegible.
• - According to some media, Sostre was included on 1947 New York Cubans roster, but not enough data to confirm that he officially debuted.
• Giancarlo Stanton- Puerto Rican great-grandmother, not elegible.
• Tetelo Vargas- Born in Dominican Republic, Juan Esteban Vargas was an idol in every place he played, including the Puerto Rican winter baseball league, where he played for many years. Puerto Rico was so special for him, that he decided to marry and live his late years in the island. He was even buried in Guayama, PR, but still not elegible.
• - Played with Indianapolis Clowns in 1948. According to several sources, a pitcher named José Velásquez from Cuba, participated in one official game. Apparently he has been mistaken with another great player from Puerto Rico named Manuel Laru Velázquez. Both played in the Puerto Rican baseball league.
• Ozzie Virgil Sr.- Born in Dominican Republic, he could have been included in the list since he lived in PR for more than 12 years, was active in the local league and his wife is Puerto Rican (mother of Ozzie Jr.).

See also[]

• List of current Major League Baseball players by nationality
• Chicago White Sox

References[]