African Americans in MLB continued to decline in 2024
The 2024 World Series showcased some of the best African American players in the game today: American League MVP Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Mookie Betts of the Major League Baseball champion Los Angeles Dodgers. However, they are a small number of the sport’s declining African American stars.
Opening Day in 2024 saw Black players making up 6% of MLB rosters. “The 2023 Racial and Gender Report Card,” a study by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida examining MLB, stated that the percentage was 6.2% in 2023, which was down one point from 7.2% in 2022. However, there is hope on the horizon. In the 2022 MLB draft, four of the first five players selected were African American, including the No. 2 overall pick Druw Jones, son of former 10-time Gold Glove outfielder Andruw Jones.
There are also established players such as Masyn Wynn, a shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals; Michael Harris II, an outfielder for the Atlanta Braves and 2022 National League Rookie of the Year; and Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene, a 2024 All-Star. All are 25 or younger. Byron Buxton, 30, an outfielder for the Minnesota Twins — the No. 2 pick in 2012, and 27-year-old Ke’Bryan Hayes, a third baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates, are also impact players.
Concerns about the lack of African American ballplayers have merit. Name Image and Likeness (NIL) deals that have been lucrative for many college athletes in basketball and football are not available for baseball players because of their lack of brand recognition. Most sports fans know the names Shedeur Sanders, the quarterback for the University of Colorado, and high school basketball star AJ Dybantsa, both of whom have multi-million-dollar NIL contracts, but could not identify the top Black baseball prospects or prospects in general attending college and or high school.
There is also the swag effect. For many Black youth, baseball just isn’t a cool sport. They don’t see it as having a connection to urban culture. Less exposure and a lack of popularity of baseball lends itself to the sport being less desirable to African American youth. This has led to many Black youth gravitating to basketball and football. That 23 is the average age when a player reaches the MLB whereas NFL and NBA players typically ascend to those leagues at an earlier age is also a consideration that is key to which sports aspiring Black athletes pursue.
Major League Baseball has projects in place such as the Dream Series, a developmental event held during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend in Tempe, Az., designed to grow the skills of Black pitchers and catchers — two positions with a dearth of African-Americans, and the Andre Dawson Classic, an annual round-robin tournament taking place Feb. 21–23 at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla., highlighting HBCU baseball programs.
Dawson, a Hall of Famer, said to MLB.com, “I think the quality of talent is starting to get a lot better, thanks to the initiatives. That’s one of the reasons why we’re starting to get a better quality of player.”
That’s correct. We just need more of them.
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