The Pittsburgh Pirates signed right-handed pitcher David Matoma from Uganda on Sunday, during the opening day of the 2023 international signing period.
MLB holds camps in Africa and Europe and the best players from certain areas will attend those events. The entire continent of Africa will have about 20 kids at these events, with South Africa being their version of a baseball hotbed, though it’s far from the most popular sport in their country. Then there’s the country of Uganda, which didn’t have a single pro baseball player at any point until just under a year ago.
Matoma is not a raw player though.