(NewsNation) — Major League Baseball players will take the field Friday for the first spring training games of the season, yet the sport that once helped redefine racial boundaries is stuck at second base.

MLB player Jackie Robinson set the standard back in 1947 when he became the first African American to play in the major league, defining the sport for generations since. But now, America’s pastime might just be stuck in the past.

The MLB gave NewsNation an inside look at how the organization is investing in the next generation of players.

Last season, MLB had the lowest percentage of American-born black players on opening day since 1991, according to the annual MLB Racial and Gender Report Card.

“I played only 11 different teams, 21 years in the major leagues, and I think maybe no more than three times I actually played with another African American pitcher,” said LaTroy Hawkins, a 21-year MLB veteran and DREAM Series coach.

Hawkins pitched in the majors and, from the mound, he saw the lack of diversity. Now, he’s using his experience as a pitcher to change up the culture.

“The way the game has evolved is completely pushing out kids who can’t afford to play. And that’s not fair. Everybody should have an equal opportunity to be able to play the game of baseball,” Hawkins said.

To level the playing field, MLB is pushing for more diversity-driven developmental leagues for the next generation of American athletes.

In 2017, the MLB and USA Baseball established the DREAM Series to showcase the pitching and catching talent of high school elite athletes — predominantly African-American — from across the country.

“It’s amazing. Because I feel like without Ace, I would have never got a chance to go somewhere like the DREAM Series,” 16-year-old Brandon Stinson, a catcher from Chicago, said. “And when I got there, I learned so much that I probably wouldn’t have learned if I wasn’t there.”

Sir Jameson Jones, a 16-year-old catcher from Blue Island, Illinois, said, “Baseball has, you know, given me so many opportunities to go places and meet new people.”

Both Stinson and Jones are catchers in the DREAM Series, where the most-talented players could eventually be put in front of college coaches and professional scouts.

“When you go to DREAM series you’re around people that are going to get drafted and you start to see the level of play that you’re on. They start to think, ‘Man, maybe I could be at the same level as them,'” Stinson said.

MLB said diversity-driven development leagues are paying off. About 95% of the kids participating either attend college, play college baseball or play professionally.

In the 2022 draft, four of the first five players picked were Black, and all four athletes played in the DREAM Series.

At 17 years old, up-and-coming pitcher Justyn Hart from Frankfort, Illinois, said he is already looking out for the next generation.

“I do want to be in the shoes one day.” Hart said, “They really have paved the way for me to be able to get there a lot easier. Especially for kids that are behind me, I want to pave the way for them to get to the league lot easier too.”