Percentage of Latinos in Major League Baseball Lowest Since 1999

Albert Pujols (José Alberto Pujols Alcántara) is considered by many baseball fans and analysts to be sitting at the exclusive top of the heap of Major League Baseball, and Mariano Rivera is still one of the most feared closers in the league, but the number of Latinos in professional baseball’s big tent has been shrinking.

It’s nothing to be alarmed about, really. But it is noticeable, at least to the numbers crunchers. According to the Associated Press:

The percentage of Latino players dropped from 28.4 percent to 27 percent — baseball’s lowest since 1999’s 26 percent.

Not bad, considering that Latinos make up about 16 percent of the general population – for now.

At the front office though, the picture is slightly different, or worse.

The number of black and Latino managers dropped from 10 at the start of the 2010 season to six, and the percentage of black and Latino coaches dropped from 31 to 29 percent. No blacks were team chief executives or presidents and only Houston Astros president of business Pam Gardner fell into that category.

Ya’ know, it’s the old work-horse thing again.  The thing is that as long as Mariano keeps smokin’ his pitches in the ninth and outfielders take five steps back when Alberto enters the batting box, those front office folks will have their paychecks assured.

How long do you think it’ll be before we see a Latino MLB owner?

Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda