Community Picks: Houston Astros 0% vs St. Louis Cardinals 0%

(Repeats story with no changes to text) By Nick Brown SAN JUAN, June 15 (Reuters) - When the ball cracked off Cariduros shortstop Luis Mateo's bat, driving in the eventual winning run in a crucial June 4 play-off game, Angel Mulero and his family didn't just cheer. The highly-indebted island's high poverty rate, poor infrastructure and lack of robust school sports programs puts younger players behind in the count right from the start against players from the continental U.S. and foreign markets such as the Dominican Republic, where MLB invests heavily in player development. Continue to Article

June 15, 2016 7:00:am EST

(Repeats story with no changes to text) By Nick Brown SAN JUAN, June 15 (Reuters) - When the ball cracked off Cariduros shortstop Luis Mateo's bat, driving in the eventual winning run in a crucial June 4 play-off game, Angel Mulero and his family didn't just cheer. The highly-indebted island's high poverty rate, poor infrastructure and lack of robust school sports programs puts younger players behind in the count right from the start against players from the continental U.S. and foreign markets such as the Dominican Republic, where MLB invests heavily in player development. Continue to Article

June 15, 2016 7:00:am EST

By Nick Brown SAN JUAN (Reuters) - When the ball cracked off Cariduros shortstop Luis Mateo's bat, driving in the eventual winning run in a crucial June 4 play-off game, Angel Mulero and his family didn't just cheer. "Baseball is therapy," he said in Spanish, hoarse from cheering.  He's not alone: Puerto Rico's so-called Double-A amateur baseball league, where Fajardo Cariduros play, drew some 400,000 fans last year, notable on a mostly rural island of 3.5 million. Fewer Puerto Rican prospects are reaching the top tier U.S. teams, and the island's own pro league is a shell of its once-vibrant self.  Part of the reason for the stagnation: the island's relationship with U.S.-based Major League Baseball (MLB), a complex link in some ways reflective of the identity struggle at the heart of Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. territory. Continue to Article

June 15, 2016 6:21:am EST

By Nick Brown SAN JUAN, June 15 (Reuters) - When the ball cracked off Cariduros shortstop Luis Mateo's bat, driving in the eventual winning run in a crucial June 4 play-off game, Angel Mulero and his family didn't just cheer. The highly-indebted island's high poverty rate, poor infrastructure and lack of robust school sports programs puts younger players behind in the count right from the start against players from the continental U.S. and foreign markets such as the Dominican Republic, where MLB invests heavily in player development. Continue to Article

June 15, 2016 1:00:am EST