Baseball Hotbeds: Where Do Pro Baseball Players Come From?

A Heat Map For All 50 States

Using high school locations for nearly 12,000 players active in the majors or minors from 2011 to 2017, we found each state's rate of pro players per 100,000 residents.

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Methodology 

To answer the question, "Where do pro baseball players come from?", Baseball America crunched the numbers. We took a snapshot of all players in the majors and affiliated minors from 2011 to 2017 and determined how many come from each state. To control for variances in state populations, we ranked the states by determining the number of pro players per 100,000 state residents, according to 2017 population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. Players are assigned to the city and state where they attended high school. We give a nod to each state's hotbed city - the one that produced the most players, which is denoted by a flame on the map.

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California, Florida and Texas have long been known as the volume dealers for professional baseball. Year-round warm weather plus strong baseball tradition plus pockets of wealth equal perfect conditions to hatch baseball players.

Yet those states also have three of the four largest populations in the United States—New York slightly outranks Florida for No. 3—giving them strength in numbers. That’s why Baseball America approached the topic of baseball hotbeds from a slightly different perspective. To control for variances in state populations, we ranked the states by determining the number of pro players per 100,000 sate residents, according to 2017 population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.

When viewed this way, Florida emerges as the pound-for-pound champion of baseball hotbeds. The Sunshine State produced 1,311 players who were active in affiliated baseball from 2011 to 2017—our sample period—against a state population of roughly 21 million. That’s more than six players per 100,000 people, the highest rate for any state.

We categorize players not by birthplace but by the city and state in which they attended high school—regardless of whether they were subsequently drafted out of college in a different state.