Venezuela's Shortstop Dynasty, From Chico Carrasquel to Today
Venezuelan players are nearly twice as likely as the average major leaguer to be shortstops. Here's the line of succession, and the numbers behind it.
Every baseball country has its specialty. For Venezuela, it’s the most demanding position on the field.
Of the 500 Venezuelan-born players who have reached the majors, 55 were primarily shortstops. That’s 11% of all Venezuelan players, against less than 6% for major leaguers as a whole. Venezuelan players are 1.9 times as likely to be shortstops as the average big leaguer, one of the clearest signals on our positional fingerprint.
Together, they have won 29 Gold Gloves and earned 41 All-Star selections.
The line of succession
Venezuelan fans talk about their shortstops as a lineage, each one handing the position to the next. The data follows that story almost decade by decade.
Chico Carrasquel started it. He debuted in 1950 and the next year became the first Venezuelan selected to an All-Star Game. He made four in all.
Luis Aparicio took over as the White Sox shortstop in 1956 and won Rookie of the Year. He went on to win 9 Gold Gloves, make 10 All-Star teams and collect 2,677 hits. In 1984 he became the first, and still the only, Venezuelan-born player in the Hall of Fame.
Dave Concepción carried the line through the 1970s and 1980s with the Cincinnati Reds: 5 Gold Gloves, 9 All-Star selections and 2,326 hits.
Ozzie Guillén won Rookie of the Year in 1985, the second Venezuelan shortstop to do it after Aparicio.
Omar Vizquel then set the defensive standard: 11 Gold Gloves, the most of any Venezuelan player, and 2,877 hits, the most of any Venezuelan shortstop.
The pipeline got bigger
The lineage started as a trickle. Venezuela produced only seven shortstops in its first three decades in the majors (1950s to 1970s). Then the numbers grew:
| Decade of debut | Venezuelan shortstops |
|---|---|
| 1950s | 3 |
| 1960s | 2 |
| 1970s | 2 |
| 1980s | 6 |
| 1990s | 7 |
| 2000s | 16 |
| 2010s | 11 |
| 2020s (so far) | 8 |
The 2000s brought sixteen, including Elvis Andrus, whose 2,091 hits rank fourth among Venezuelan shortstops, and Asdrúbal Cabrera, who hit 195 home runs.
Not just shortstops
Venezuela’s middle-infield habit runs deeper than one position. Venezuelan players are also 1.6 times as likely as the average major leaguer to be second basemen, and 1.5 times as likely to be catchers. The position Venezuela produces less of: outfielders, at roughly 60% of the MLB rate.
See every Venezuelan player and the full fingerprint →
Statistics through the 2025 season, from the SABR Lahman Baseball Database. “Shortstop” means the position a player played most, by games.