Cespedes: 'Baseball would grow' if MLB had more Latin culture

Though some MLB players may not be so fond of how the game is played in Latin America, Yoenis Cespedes - the New York Mets' beloved, bat-flipping, superstar - thinks the big leagues would do well to embrace "Latin culture."

In a video released Thursday, one day after Ian Kinsler, an Arizona native, sparked an uproar with a thinly veiled reproof of the style of play celebrated in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (which he later walked back), Cespedes opined that more "Latin culture" in Major League Baseball would help the game grow.

"Baseball players in the U.S. need to understand that we are not doing this out of disrespect. It's just how we play," Cespedes said in Facebook video produced by Mitu. "... Baseball in the U.S. is the best baseball in the world. We Latinos play baseball because it's a passion. That is the difference to why we play baseball with more love. In my country, Cuba, the game is played with music. If in the U.S., we would introduce more of the Latin culture, I think that baseball would grow."