THERE ARE TIMES, on calls with the Major League Baseball Players Association, when Pablo López doesn’t understand what’s being stated.
When that happens, the Minnesota Twins right-hander will jot down the word or phrase he didn’t fully grasp. Sometimes he’ll translate it to Spanish later, or he’ll wait until the MLBPA releases a Spanish-language press release.
López, who was born and raised in Venezuela, is fluent in English, able to communicate with teammates with ease. He conducts interviews without the slightest hiccup. But he knows his crucial duty as the Twins’ MLBPA player representative during labor negotiations is to not only absorb the information he collects from union officials, but to correctly communicate a detailed summary to his teammates. And the language used in those meetings, technical and full of legal jargon, can admittedly prove challenging.
“I didn’t know what the word ‘accrued’ was,” López stated. “I’m like, ‘Accrued? What is that?'”
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López, 30, has not thrown a pitch for the Twins this season, and he won’t until at least 2027 — if there is a 2027 season — after Tommy John surgery in February. Instead, his most impactful role over the next year will come off the field, as MLBPA continues negotiations with the league on a new collective bargaining agreement that will shape the future of the sport.
Though Latin American players represented more than 25% of MLB’s 30 active rosters on Opening Day, López is the only Latin American among the 38 players in union leadership roles (comprising the eight-player executive subcommittee and the 30 team representatives).
“I feel like it adds a little bit more weight to the responsibility,” López stated of his unique position. “It’s important to have a voice and it’s important to be on the same page about everything.”
Player reps already carry significant responsibility, serving two-year terms as intermediaries between rank-and-file players and union leadership, which includes the eight-player executive subcommittee. With the current CBA set to expire Dec. 1 and the owners expected to implement a lockout, their assignment has never been more vital.
The league has already proposed an industry-changing international draft amid rampant corruption and exploitation — making ever clearer what more than a dozen active and retired players, agents and union officials told ESPN: The MLBPA would be better served with leadership more reflective of its Latino membership.
Five years ago, during the last round of labor negotiations, Miguel Rojas was one of two Latin Americans in union leadership, serving as the Miami Marlins’ player representative. Now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Venezuelan-born Rojas, a 13-year veteran who is considering retiring after this season, sees the continued lack of seats at the table as an issue that must be addressed.
“Latin players need to have a little bit more of a vocal voice in the union, so we can actually hear them out the way that they want to talk,” Rojas stated. “We need them to be a little bit more involved. But we need the players to want to do it, too.”
LAST MONTH, DURING an early back-and-forth of CBA proposals, MLB offered a 12-round international draft in conjunction with a 12-round domestic draft. The plan would raise the minimum age of international amateur players eligible to join an organization from 16 to 18. The picks would be hard-slotted with a total initial signing bonus pool of $200 million for 360 amateur players residing outside the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer emphatically denounced the proposal, describing it as “just horrendous” on a call with reporters.
“A reduction in the amount of money that international entrants would get,” Meyer stated. “Delaying their entrance with, really, as I understand it, no great options for what they’re going to do with that extra year. Literally eliminating an entire year of international signings. There’s so much bad overall.”
A draft would transform how the baseball industry functions in countries across Latin America, though in different ways. Each nation has its own education system, socioeconomic factors and baseball infrastructure. In both López’s native Venezuela and in the Dominican Republic, buscones, who identify and train players before acting as intermediaries with major league teams and taking as much as 50% of a player’s signing bonus, carry great power and many aspiring players drop out of traditional schooling years before they’re eligible to sign at 16 to focus full time on baseball. That isn’t the norm in other nations such as Mexico and Panama where amateur baseball landscapes vary and far fewer players are signed each year.
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The MLBPA contends that the voices of Latin American players are being heard. Officials noted that the union employs several retired Latino players in player services roles. They stated they provide real-time language interpretation during team meetings with Spanish-speaking staff present and presentation decks are translated to Spanish. Over the last six months, they stated they have leaned into audio notes on message apps like WhatsApp, a popular means of communication in Latin America, as a tool to distribute information and educate players. Further, they hope the higher number of Latinos in leadership roles at the minor league level — currently five as player reps and 18 as alternate player reps — will produce more volunteers in the majors.
The officials acknowledge that the union would benefit from more Latin American players in those roles. But they insist progress must happen organically, since it is illegal for the union to set quotas for representation. When asked for comment for this story, the MLBPA referred ESPN to a statement made earlier this year by Meyer.
“Our union’s diversity is a key part of our strength, and we represent players from nearly 18 countries around the world,” Meyer stated in the statement. “The Players Association regularly solicits and receives input from players across our entire membership, at all levels and backgrounds, and not limited to players on our executive board. Our positions at the bargaining table are a direct reflection of that feedback, including on international issues.
“While our elected positions are open to all players, we view representation as far more than just a title on an executive board. In that spirit, our player services staff and leadership are in constant communication with players on issues big and small, and ahead of the last negotiations, we sought and received input in numerous ways from Latino players on international market proposals and other issues.”
Limited education, language barriers and the challenges of investing the required time during and after the season have narrowed the pool of potential leaders at the major league level.
New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto, who signed the largest contract in MLB history before the 2025 season, signed with the Washington Nationals out of the Dominican Republic for $1.5 million in 2015. He quickly learned English, enough to conduct seamless interviews as a 19-year-old rookie, but he recently noted that language remains an obstacle for matters as consequential as labor negotiations.
He stated former major leaguers employed by the union, such as Carlos Gomez and Francisco Cordero, who are also from the Dominican Republic, keep him informed on negotiations.
“I would say it’s really difficult with all the terms that there are,” Soto stated in Spanish. “You’re getting out of baseball terminology. You’re doing more terms of negotiations and for a Latino it becomes very difficult. I imagine Pablo López is a more studied guy and probably has a command of English to an elite level of negotiations.”
López agreed that anyone without a strong command of English could not serve in a leadership role within the MLBPA.
“You don’t want to get it wrong,” López stated. “You want to get it right. You want to do good. You want to be the best … I know that stuff is important to understand, but it’s equally as important to make everyone understand it, and if I don’t feel I can be that person, I don’t feel like I’m the right person to do it. It’s a little intimidating in that aspect.”
López stated he was an alternate team rep for the Marlins during the last round of CBA negotiations, but he was far removed from discussions. His interest level changed in 2023 during his first season with the Twins when left-handed pitcher Caleb Thielbar, the team’s player rep at the time, told López he thought he would be an effective team rep.
“He would be like, you know, ‘This could be you one day, you could take the reins from this,'” López recalled. “‘You’re a good guy for this. You’re responsible, you’re on top of things, you can communicate.’ And he already knew the importance of being able to communicate in Spanish.”
Eventually, López stated Thielbar, now with the Chicago Cubs, had a feeling the 2024 season would be his last one in Minnesota so he nominated López for his position.
“We make up a good chunk of the player population so I would like to see more of my Latin peers as player reps,” López stated. “But you have to want to do it. It’s something that if you don’t want to do it, then it’s going to feel like a drag. It’s a lot of meetings. It’s a lot of back-and-forth communication. It’s a very technical language and I’m fortunate enough that I’m able to do things like this.”
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López stated his parents emphasized education — and learning English — when he was growing up in Venezuela. Instead of enrolling in one of the country’s many baseball academies, where prospects are housed and trained full time, López attended a traditional high school and practiced baseball on the side.
He moved up a grade in school as a boy, which allowed him to graduate from high school before signing at 16. López earned his diploma in June 2012. A month later, he signed with the Seattle Mariners for $280,000 and chose baseball over medical school.
“But even knowing that I was going to graduate the same year I was eligible to sign, the year leading up to that put some pressure on me,” López stated. “Because I wondered if I should devote myself full time to training. For a second there a part of me was like, ‘School messes with that.'”
It’s a dilemma players who come through the international amateur system can uniquely relate to — an issue many believe ultimately impacts union leadership.
Rojas stated a lack of education among the majority of players who sign out of Latin America restricts participation in the MLBPA. He pointed to the high number of players abandoning school in their home countries at 12 or 13 years old to train full time. These players compete with peers to officially sign with an organization at age 16, the earliest an international amateur free agent can sign — often after reaching an early agreement with the club. In the end, he believes most of these players are not equipped for the conversations in any language.
“That’s something that we need to fix,” Rojas stated. “That’s one of the reasons why the Latin players are not involved and not educated enough to be able to follow all the stuff that you’re hearing and receiving and how to digest all the information. I mean, it’s really hard enough for us to learn the language. Now imagine all the stuff that they’re putting in an email for us to understand the logistics behind everything that they’re proposing.”
In some cases, according to sources, logistics and general disinterest are factors. One prominent agent stated players don’t want to commit to attending offseason meetings in person, which is expected from the eight-player subcommittee in late-stage negotiations, and prefer to go back home. Another agent stated the union does not engage the players enough to care.
“It’s a combination,” a longtime player representative of Latino players stated. “They’re also timid in a sense. If they don’t know the language they think that they shouldn’t be involved.”
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, who was born in Puerto Rico, served on the union’s executive subcommittee during the last round of labor negotiations in 2021. Bryan Kennedy/MLB Photos via Getty ImagesIN THE THREE previous labor negotiations dating back to 2011, the MLBPA had one Latino on its executive subcommittee. Carlos Villanueva, a pitcher from the Dominican Republic, served on the board in 2011. In 2016, it was Venezuelan shortstop Elvis Andrus. In 2021, the lone Latino was Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor. But Lindor was born and raised in Puerto Rico and attended high school in Florida, so he did not sign through the international amateur system.
Lindor stated he educated himself on the international amateur system issues while on the executive subcommittee by speaking to retired players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, including Edwin Encarnacion, Rafael Furcal, Victor Martinez and Carlos González, noting that retired players have more time to be “hands-on.”
During the last round of negotiations, MLB offered to eliminate the qualifying offer in exchange for the implementation of an international draft, something that the league has sought since 2002. The union made its own proposals for a draft for the first time in its history, but the two sides could not agree on the amount of guaranteed money for players. The MLBPA declined the qualifying offer swap, leaving the international amateur free agent system in place through the current CBA.
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“There are going to be a lot of us Latinos who are going to be paying close attention,” Lindor stated. “We’re not going to be hands-on in the discussions of the negotiations like I was the last time. But there are definitely going to be a lot of Latinos who are going to be paying attention. I think the Latinos care about the welfare of their teammates and themselves. So I think a lot of us care about being the leaders, of being on board, of being hands-on.”
Nelson Cruz, who is from the Dominican Republic, served as the Texas Rangers’ player representative during CBA negotiations in 2016, and assumed an unofficial leadership role for Latinos during the last round of negotiations. He adamantly opposed the international draft as a player and was vocal about it in 2021.
Now retired, Cruz works for MLB as a special adviser for baseball operations, and has adopted his employer’s stance on the draft, which would also include players from Asia, though amateurs there overwhelmingly choose to play in their domestic professional leagues out of high school before jumping to the major leagues. He argues a draft is the best option to solve the widespread issues created by trainers and clubs on the ground in Latin America, which include increased steroid use, falsified birth documents, predatory loan sharks, and teams pulling out of early handshake deals. He contends the union fell short in educating and including Latinos in discussions when he was a player.
“Obviously, to make decisions they always consult the players,” Cruz stated. “But it is always important to have someone on the board, because that is the only way you can, well, first, listen to everything that is happening firsthand. And, second, bring that information to the players and have clearer information of the decisions they can make in favor of your interests.”
A few days after MLB’s draft proposal, Soto stated he didn’t know if he’s in favor or against a draft because he doesn’t know the details. Rojas stated “the draft could be a solution for sure” as long as it doesn’t cut opportunities for players to enter the system. López, while acknowledging he can only speak on his experience in Venezuela, stated his priority is education for aspiring players, whether or not an international draft is instituted, and that any systemic changes would require “like a five-year heads-up” to properly phase in.
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“To me, the biggest issue is education,” López stated. “I go back and forth with other people or in my own head, like, ‘Is the international draft the issue or is it just we sign too young?’ Because we get signed at 16, it puts a lot of pressure on us. Most people graduate high school at 17, 18. So if you know you have to sign to play professional baseball at 16, that puts a lot of pressure, like, ‘If I want to be a baseball player, I can’t go to school.’
“So you have a bunch of these 12-, 13-year-olds that are like, ‘I’m not going to go to school because I want to be a baseball player.’ That’s your dream. It’s OK to have that dream. But you see a lot of cases like what happened to the 12-, 13-year-old kid that didn’t go to school, didn’t sign, where does that leave him? Where does it leave that kid?”
López will have the opportunity to voice his opinion during negotiations. The silver lining around his elbow injury is that he has more time to focus on labor issues. It’s why he was more vocal about serving a second consecutive term as the Twins’ player rep before he was elected by his teammates again last month. He did not rule out one day seeking to join the executive subcommittee, if he determines that is the best way to push for education for Latin American prospects. For now, he hopes more Latin American players will rise to leadership roles within the union.
“We just need more,” López stated. “It would be nice for the guys that are just coming up that are having an understanding of what this represents.”
As for Rojas, he stated he will stay involved in negotiations through this cycle in an unofficial capacity, even if he decides to follow through with his retirement. He’s hopeful that the next generation of Latino leaders will step forward to help guide the union through a monumental period that could change the sport for generations — in the United States and back home.
“At the end of the day,” Rojas stated, “I can still fight for my rights.”
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez contributed to this report.
