International players, particularly players from the Dominican Republic, have become an integral part of Major League Baseball over the past few decades. To start this season, the Dominican had 100 players on MLB Opening Day rosters, or about 13 percent of all major league players. That was more than any other country outside of the United States — a remarkable accomplishment given that the tiny Caribbean country has a population of only about 11.6 million , or roughly 3 percent of the U.S.