TEMPE, Ariz. -- MLB rosters are becoming more and more diverse, and this weekend’s DREAM Series in Arizona tells another story.
The talent pool of minority pitchers and catchers is getting younger, too.
The annual amateur baseball development showcase at Tempe Diablo Stadium, the Spring Training home of the Angels, falls on its customary weekend honoring Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday celebrations. More than 80 predominantly African American high school pitchers and catchers from more than 15 states and Canada are in the mix, with the roster featuring players as young as 14 in some cases.
That brings back memories for one of the former Major and Minor league players, managers and coaches on hand.
Darren Oliver, who would go on to build a 20-year MLB career with nine teams, was just 17 years old when the Rangers grabbed him in the third round of the 1988 MLB Draft.
“Just a puppy,” Oliver, now 55, said from inside the dugout while watching the DREAM Series players take reps.
The main question young players ask Oliver today is an obvious one.
“‘How’d you play so long?’ ‘What is the secret?’” he said. “I don’t think there’s really a big secret. I tell them, ‘Hey, get a good mattress, get a good pillow and get your rest. If you get your rest and wake up in the morning and feel good, you’ll want to work out.’”
MLB’s efforts to improve the percentage of Black players at the highest level made big strides a year ago.
An analysis of Opening Day rosters in 2025 showed the most overall diversity since 2019 and the first year-over-year increase in the percentage of Black players since 2018. The percentage of Black players (6.2) was an increase over the 6 percent from one year prior. Of those 59 Black players on Opening Day rosters last spring, 17 were alumni of MLB Develops programs, including the MLB Youth Academy, the Breakthrough Series, the DREAM Series, the Nike RBI program and the Hank Aaron Invitational.
Not only are younger African American kids taking up the sport, in some cases they’re finding it on their own.
You couldn’t blame Ramon Foster Jr., a 6-foot-6, 212-pound right-hander out of Hendersonville, Tenn., if he had gone into football. His dad played guard for the Pittsburgh Steelers for 11 years. His uncle, Renardo Foster, was also an NFL offensive lineman.
Foster Jr. went for baseball when he was around 5.
“My family came from a football and basketball background,” the 17-year-old said on Saturday. “I just drew away from that, I guess. I was drawn to baseball. I’m one of the first people in my family to play baseball seriously.”
The turning point, he says, came while he was playing travel ball and he recognized when baseball went from merely a pastime to bringing out the best in his work ethic.
“I’d say, like, 10 years old was when I truly started playing [baseball] over the summer and stuff and actually getting into it,” he said. “There was a tournament once, and I got frustrated with myself not doing good, so I pushed myself to be better every single time. That’s when I really started loving the game.”
It’s a similar story for DREAM Series participant Brayden Singleton.
At 6-foot-5 and 253 pounds, Singleton’s frame belies his age of 17. But the high school junior from Elizabethtown, Ky., is already a veteran DREAM participant, having been selected previously, and he’s also competed in the Hank Aaron Invitational.
The southpaw has committed to the University of Kentucky, which advanced to the College World Series in 2024.
“As a player, I’m heading in the right direction, being around all the top guys here and the best competition,” Singleton said. “Even the greats who have played the game, they’re here teaching us what they’ve learned so we can get to the next level.”
In addition to being exposed to scouts and learning fundamentals, players share a dugout and uniform for the weekend, and will likely run into one another down the baseball road.
“Some of these guys have been together since they were freshmen in high school, so this is one last event for them to see each other before they’re off on their separate ways,” said Antonio Grissom, head baseball coach at HBCU Morehouse College in Atlanta, who suited up with the DREAM Series coaching staff. “But they’ll take the stuff they learned these last three, four years with them.”