Sorry, but I reject any such list that ranks Netherlands (#6) above Dominican Republic (#13). It's based on results from recent international tournaments only. To have the Dominican Republic not even in the top ten is ridiculous.
I respectfully submit the historical tallies of
foreign major leaguer players by country at Baseball Reference as a better barometer of baseball quality over time. Total all-time major leaguers from the Dominican, 493. Total from Holland, 8.
Sure, I am opening myself up to ethnocentrism by holding up MLB membership as the ultimate standard of baseball excellence, especially these days. Renner is going to come back and tell me off by asserting such a list as irrelevant, considering how much of MLB history involved exclusivity based on race. Politics also enter in to screw things up; the embargo of Cuba, for example.
Nevertheless, but with a nod of compromise to Renner, I present my top 12 baseball countries based on the numbers of foreign players being good enough to play in MLB in 2007, the latest data that I have:
UNITED STATES (almost all the rest)
CUBA (6, but moved up to #2 in consideration of historic political barriers and recently demonstrated quality of play)
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (98)
VENEZUELA (51)
PUERTO RICO (28)
CANADA (19)
JAPAN (13)
MEXICO (13)
PANAMA (7)
KOREA (3)
TAIWAN (2)
COLOMBIA (2)
These are the top 12 baseball countries in the world, IN ORDER! What do you think of that, and the way I selected them? Do you like how I adjust my own standards to move Cuba up, for the very same reason that their teams have been successful in recent international tournament play?
[Yes, I'm trying to stir up controversy.
]