Black Baseball Players Shine in College World Series

The disappearance of African-American players says a lot about the state of the game. Especially considering how overrepresented black baseball players are in terms of WAR.

Much has been made about the disappearance of black baseball players throughout the years. Born in 1989, I had the cards of titans like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Mo Vaughn, Gary Sheffield, Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, and other ’90s stars.

While aspects such as the pace of play and a less attentive younger demographic of prospective fans have no doubt contributed to baseball’s marketing problems, maybe the biggest problem has been baseball’s lack of Black players.

Black culture is not only cool, but it’s essential; it is what drives popular culture–from the slang we use in everyday speech, to the music we listen to and the shows and movies we watch. With a paucity of Black players in MLB, it is much more difficult for baseball to be as popular as the NFL or NBA.

In spite of their underrepresentation though, Black baseball players are overrepresented in terms of Wins Above Average, and there certainly are a slew of household names–Stanton, Judge, Betts, Bell, Sabathia, and many others–who are great ambassadors of the game. But the number of Black baseball players in the game is only 1/3 what it was at its peak in 1981.

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I have observed this disappointing reality become more evident with each year. MLB has instituted a host of initiatives through its Diversity and Inclusion, such as the Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities (RBI) program and the Dream Series in the hopes of rectifying the lack of African-American representation on the field.

Still, as the Washington Post reports, in 2018 only 6% of college baseball players were Black. MLB is not much better: its 8.4% on Opening Day rosters last year was its highest total since 2012.

Maybe it’s no coincidence that Vanderbilt (9 Black baseball players out of 40) and Michigan (7 out of 35) are the last two teams standing in this week’s College World Series from Omaha. In Game 2 of the CWS, 4 of Michigan’s starting nine were African-American.

Players such as the Wolverines’1st-team All-Big 10 DH Jordan Nwogu and Big 10 Player of the Year Jordan Brewer–a former Jim Harbaugh recruit at wide receiver–have had their skills and flashy brilliance on display throughout the tournament.

Both teams featured a Black starting pitcher yesterday, too. Vandy’s season was once again saved by Freshman All-American pitching sensation Kumar Rocker, as he K’d 11 through 6 1/3 IP, expertly employing his killer slider in tandem with his mid-to-high 90s fastball. Michigan’s redshirt freshman Isaiah Paige pitched well through 4+ innings, allowing only 3 hits and an unearned run.

Vandy 3B Austin Martin has been a huge piece for the ‘Dores, too. He earned 1st-team All-American honors, as well as 1st-team All-Defense, posting a .414 average in the regular season.

Credit is due to Michigan’s Erik Bakich and Vandy’s Tim Corbin, who have made conscious attempts at finding talent from the inner city.

Bakich told ESPN, “We just think our roster should look like the United States of America,” Michigan Coach Erik Bakich said on ESPN’s telecast when his team defeated Florida State. “We target a lot of inner-city kids. There’s a lot of great athletes out there. I think it’s ridiculous, the cost of travel ball and some of these showcases. It negates opportunities for a lot of kids. For us, we want to have a diverse roster, and we want to provide as many opportunities for kids all over the country that we can.”

Corbin and Bakich’s emphasis on finding talent in the inner cities is a lesson that other baseball coaches should apply to their programs. As Bakich notes, this begins with the schools hiring more non-White coaches. Players want to play for people who they can relate to, and unfortunately, many coaches lazily recruit players who look like them, too.

For many programs, this means the standard fare of select baseball tournaments and showcases that cost thousands of dollars per year.

While the MLB’s programs like RBI have featured current players like Aaron Judge, Marcus Stroman, and Byron Buxton, the NCAA still lags behind. In an example of this, last year’s College World Series champion Oregon State had only 1 Black player on its roster.

Additionally, as the Washington Post points out, only 4% of NCAA baseball coaches were Black in 2018–3% of which was coaching HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges/Universities).

So, while the prevalence of the Black baseball star is on display in this year’s CWS due to the inclusive practices of Bakich and Corbin are encouraging, a lot more work needs to be done.