Do they emphasze stolen bases that much in the DR, Venezualua, etc? The swing from African American players to Central America the past 20 years has been very big and I wonder if that has anything to do with it. When Alexi Ramirez, who is very fast, came to the Sox from Cuba he had to be "taught" how to steal bases. He's still not there yet.
With ballparks getting smaller, the balls being juiced, the players being juiced, it just seems that small ball has taken a back seat. When CF is 400 yards away, not 460, it's harder to justify manufacturing runs.
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