Major League Baseball (MLB) has operated in the Dominican Republic for many years in order to find cheap labor that is refined and shipped to the United States, with goals that a few players will develop into great players. Once a player is signed by an MLB team, they are assigned to the team’s academy, where they train, house, and educate players. However, these actions by MLB are neocolonial, where the players are dominated and controlled in all aspects. I will analyze how MLB justifies their practices in the Dominican Republic, where I will specifically analyze how this system is justified rhetorically. Through the education in the academies, surveillance, and the American dream, I argue that these practices are neocolonial and is justified as altruism, where the Dominican players are seemingly benefitting from MLB’s controlling actions.
