“Hunger,” said Rafael Felix, a Dominican scout for the Colorado Rockies baseball team, when asked to explain why there are so many Dominican players in the US major leagues. “American kids have more choices. But for them, this is their only way out of poverty.”

The hunger must be deep, as it has not been sated by an unprecedented run of success by Dominicans in the national pastime of the US. The Dominican Republic provides more professional baseball players in the US than any other country except the US itself.