I follow Black baseball closely, so you don’t have to. By my count, there are 52 American-born Black players on MLB’s 2026 Opening Day active roster. That is 6.6%, which rounds to 7%. That keeps pace with recent trends. There are 28 American-born Black players in the NL, and 24 in the AL.
Here are some fun facts:
Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin is the only American-Born Black catcher on any team’s active roster.
There are eleven pitchers, five starters, and one closer (Devin Williams).
The Twins have the most American-born Black players on their OD active roster (6).
There are seven teams with no American-born Black players on their roster.
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Considering there was 567 American born players according to Baseball America not counting people like Burns, Donovan, Peterson(who were raised in the states) that's about 9 percent of American born/raised players being Black.