Haiti is a country in the caribbean, located on the island of Hispaniola. It only borders one country: the Dominican Republic. The DR is just east of Haiti, and is literally filled with baseball talent, so people would probably assume that baseball is at least somewhat popular in Haiti. While the number of baseball players in the country is growing, there have only been 3 Haitian baseball players, 2 of whom are active.
Touki Toussaint is a Haitian-American pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. While he wasn't born in Haiti, he is the son of Haitian politician Dany Toussaint. He has won 6 of his 9 starts, only losing 3. This means that he has won 66.6% of his starts. He's reaching his potential, and I think he'll see a breakout year in 2021.
Estevan Florial is a Dominican-Haitian pitcher for the New York Yankees. His mother is Haitian-born, but he isn't. He hasn't reached full potential, but I think he'll have a good year in 2021, then have a breakout year in 2022.
But why isn't baseball popular in Haiti? We have to look at three criteria: Influence, Terrain, and Politics.
Haiti, unlike the Dominican Republic and other countries, wasn't colonized by Spain. It was colonized by France. France still has a lot of influence over the island today, and because baseball isn't popular in France, it doesn't help Haiti's baseball scene.
Haiti has rougher terrain than it's neighbor to the east. The country is in a spot that almost never gets hit by hurricanes, but it's unfortunately located in a seismically active area. In 2010, a large earthquake caused massive devastation to the country, crippling their economy and generating a tsunami. This led to water contamination, and water-borne diseases are common. Because of it's location, there isn't enough flat terrain for many baseball fields, and they don't have the money to excavate the land.
Haiti is currently involved in a huge civil war that was started due to corruption, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the violent oppression of peaceful protesters. This has halted the baseball scene in Haiti.
The nation is currently struggling, but baseball is making it's way into the country. All we can do now is wait.
