Top MLB prospects ushering in new era of diversity

Baseball, under its current construction, has a diversity problem.

In a study published on the Society for American Baseball Research's website, Major League Baseball was at its most diverse back in 2001, when 60.7 percent of the league was comprised of Caucasians, 12.1 percent was African-American, and 26 percent was Latino.

Since then, the amount of African-American baseball players has dwindled by nearly half - down to 6.7 percent in 2016. And, while Latino players have grown, their growth (1.4 percentage points) has been far outpaced by Caucasians (3.0 percentage points).

However, with the release of Baseball America's top 100 prospect list on Monday, a new era of diversity may be on the horizon. Here's the top 10, amended with country of origin:

* - Guerrero was born in Canada, but signed as a free agent from Dominican Republic

Somewhat amazingly, there's a lot of non-American names on the list. In fact, the top six are all international players.

Of course, this carries with it many implications.

First, the most MLB-ready prospect on that list is Ohtani. At 23 years old, Ohtani has been a household name in Japan since he became the first two-way star to go from high school straight to NPB in over 60 years. After the Los Angeles Angels signed him this offseason as an international free agent, he's expected to make the Opening Day roster, or appear in the big leagues shortly thereafter.

Ohtani has a legitimate chance to be a star in MLB, and is already being marketed as such by his team.

Second, Jimenez and Torres are 21 years old while Acuna and Robles are 20. Despite being a step behind Ohtani in their development, this is possibly the next group of stars in MLB, and two come from Dominican Republic, while the other two - including the top prospect in all of baseball - come from Venezuela.

For a while, one could have argued Miguel Cabrera was the face of baseball. Coming out of Venezuela in 1999, Miggy became the first hitter in over four decades to win the triple crown during his 2012 MVP campaign.

Meanwhile, Adrian Beltre is likely the first name that comes to mind when you think of active baseball stars from the Dominican, though Jose Ramirez is making a strong case to take over the charge if the ageless Beltre ever decides to decline.

The depth of international prospects by no means cures MLB's diversity problem, but it certainly helps and it signals progress.

For instance, the World Baseball Classic, which is now 13 years old, might have actually achieved its originally-proposed mission. Announced by then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig in 2005, the WBC was to create worldwide enthusiasm surrounding the game of baseball and to make it a more global game. Perhaps these prospects are a product of that.

The mission for diversity is by no means done, though. More hurdles still remain - particularly with lower-income families who choose other sports because of the promise of full-ride scholarships, as discussed by Andrew McCutchen in The Players' Tribune back in 2015.

Whether MLB, under Rob Manfred, continues this trend will remain to be seen. However, if having more prospects from outside of North America truly does signal that baseball is becoming a more globally-recognized game, then MLB is better for it.