NEW YORK AFP: Major League Baseball will bar players from taking part in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League during the off-season to avoid breaking the US-imposed economic embargo against Venezuela’s embargo, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Major-league and minor-league players will be prevented from participating in the competition as MLB chiefs seek further clarification on how the US embargo affects the movement of players, the Journal reported.
Venezuelan players in Major League Baseball would be allowed to return to their home country, however.
The move comes after President Donald Trump earlier this month ordered a freeze on Venezuelan government assets in the US and barred transactions with its authorities.
Venezuela has a longof delivering players to Major League Baseball, with no fewer than 68 Venezuelans on the rosters of the 30 MLB franchises at the start of this season.
Several dozen more Venezuelan players populate minor league baseball in the US.
However the political and economic crisis which has ravaged Venezuela in recent years has put the country’s close ties with major league baseball to the test, with MLB teams shuttering their academies in Venezuela.
Although Venezuela’s eight-team baseball league is mostly made up of Venezuelan players, foreign players regularly play in the league, particularly up-and-coming MLB players aiming to boost their development in the winter months of the US season.
Established US stars who have played in Venezuela in recent seasons include Boston Red Sox star J.D. Martinez and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson.
The MLB’s decision on Venezuela follows a similar political imbroglio involving the league’s ties with Cuba.
The Trump administration in April barred MLB teams from signing players directly from Cuba, reversing a historic deal agreed last December.