Baseball has always been a popular sport in the Latin American community. Countries like the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Mexico have scouts looking at them annually trying to find the next superstar.

Major League Baseball has featured several all time great players from Latin America, such as Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. But baseball is always looking for its next generation of superstars, and here are a few of the most exciting new Latino baseball players who may end up having breakout seasons this year:

Nolan Arenado

Arenado was born in California and has a deep Cuban heritage. At just 23 years of age, Arenado has shown a lot of potential. This season, Arenado provided baseball fans with the longest hitting streak of the season with 28 games. A long way from Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, but 28 is something to be proud of. So far this year, Arenado is batting .310 with 6 home runs in his first 40 games. It's only his second season with the Colorado Rockies, but Arenado has improved in almost every statistic and has a promising future.

Michael Pineda

Most fans know about Pineda at this point because of the "pine tar" incident against the Boston Red Sox. Pineda has started four games for the New York Yankees this season and has an outstanding ERA of just 1.83. Pineda is very tall for a pitcher and hails from the Dominican Republic. He started for the for the Seattle Mariners but was traded after just one season and has much to prove. With CC Sabathia on the downside of his career, the Yankees need Pineda now more than ever. A Masahiro and Pineda combination could be the No. 1 duo in the future.

Jason Castro

Castro is an exciting player who is always looking to hit the long ball. He strikes outs quite a bit and doesn't have a very good on-base percentage. He does, however, hit for power. Castro had 18 home runs last season and is on pace for about 20 this season. Because of Castro's high home run rate per at bat, his career slugging percentage is .411, well above the league average. Castro is 27 years old but is showing signs of improvement and is on pace to hit more RBIs than he ever has before.

José Abreu

Abreu is 27 years old, but this is his first season in Major League Baseball. The Chicago White Sox may have struck gold here. Abreu played for the Cuban national team and other Cuban baseball teams for many years, and has adapted beautifully to the majors so far. This season, Abreu has an outstanding 14 home runs, which leads the majors, and 38 RBIs, the second-highest total in MLB this season. That's very impressive for a player who is playing his very first season overseas. It's pretty safe to say Abreu is leading the charge of candidates for the American League Rookie of the Year award.

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