Major League Baseball will play spring training games soon (Feb. 20), and players will start playing games to prepare for the World Baseball Classic, which begins March 17.
Despite this, Major League Baseball faces the challenge of ensuring that players from Venezuela return to the United States safely and legally so they can begin their seasons. According to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, once the United States and the Trump Administration arrested the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, multiple agents who represented Venezuelan players scrambled to secure them visas.
“I’ve never dealt with a team in December trying to process visas, especially for a guy who’s never been in trouble,” one agent told Gonzalez. “Just based on that, things are different.”
Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian said of the situation, “We were proactive in having our [Venezuelan] players come out early.” Players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela made up 25% of major league rosters last season, which presents a major problem for Major League Baseball.