Of the 1,280 players who performed in the major leagues in 2007, a total of 231 played high school baseball in California—more than double any other state. That number is remarkably consistent from 1998, when 227 big leaguers played their high school baseball in the Golden State.
The most significant changes over the nine-year period in big leaguers produced have been based largely on climate, with Sun Belt and Western states showing the greatest increases and Northern states typically showing the most significant decreases.
Texas improved from 62 big leaguers in 1998 to 98 in 2007, Georgia from 26 to 44, Washington from 23 to 31, Arizona from 18 to 25, Colorado from 8 to 16 and Mississippi 8 to 13. Meanwhile, northern states like Illinois dropped from 54 to 36, New York from 38 to 21, Pennsylvania from 37 to 20, New Jersey from 24 to 11, Michigan from 21 to 10, Massachusetts from 20 to 8 and Connecticut from 11 to 4.
From the standpoint of high schools producing the most 2007 big leaguers, here are the top 10 states (the 1998 total is noted in parentheses): |
| |
| |
State |
Big Leaguers |
| 1. |
California (227) |
231 |
| 2. |
Florida (98) |
102 |
| 3. |
Texas (62) |
98 |
| 4. |
Georgia (26) |
44 |
| 5. |
Illinois (54) |
36 |
| 6. |
Washington (23) |
31 |
| 7. |
Arizona (18) |
25 |
| 8. |
Ohio (29) |
23 |
| 9. |
New York (38) |
21 |
| 10. |
Virginia (17) |
21 | |
| --ALLAN SIMPSON |
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