NEW YORK When the Braves fired Fredi Gonzalez this week and replaced him as manager with Brian Snitker, it left Major League Baseball with 28 white managers out of 30, and not a single Latino leading a team.Had the Dodgers and Nationals made different hiring decisions over the winter, and not gone with Dave Roberts and Dusty Baker as their new skippers, the majors could have been completely without minority representation among the leaders of its teams.There definitely should be more, because isnt baseball 40 percent Latino? Baker said, citing the percentage of Latino players in the minor leagues the major league number is 29 percent, but the argument is the same. That ratio doesnt work. The ratio speaks for itself. Im not doing the hiring, or else I Cleveland Indians T-Shirts d have hired me a long time ago.Its the owners who do the hiring, and their representative the commi sioner of baseball sees a situation that needs to be monitored, but also one that cannot easily be addre sed.Managers are a really difficult i sue for us, Rob Manfred said Thursday at MLB headquarters, in a pre s conference after the owners meetings. Theres only 30 of them. They turn over frequently. Thats the nature of the game and its always going to be the nature of the game, so youre going to have periods of time where these numbers ebb Cleveland Indians Custom Jersey and flow. Remember, if you lose two diverse managers, and you go from four out of 30 to two out of 30, thats a big change, but two guys getting fired is not that big a deal in baseball.MORE: | "So, its a tough area for us, and we have a series of programs in place, the most important of which is the new pipeline program that weve instituted here at the commi sioners office. The purpose of the program is to help minority candidates help get hired at clubs and have career paths at clubs that make them qualified to either be general managers, field managers or whatever they aspire to be.Manfred is right about the effect that one managerial change can have on percentages and perception. After Gonzalezs firing, the manager generally thought to be most in danger of losing his job is Brad Ausmus of the Tigers. If he does get the ax, the most logical candidate to replace him would be Triple-A Toledos skipper, Lloyd McClendon, who is black.McClendon is far from alone as a minority manager in the minor leagues, where having more than six times as many managerial jobs provides a larger sample to look at. In the minors, 33 percent of the managers are minorities, including five out of six in the Giants farm system and five out of seven in the Mets organization.Most of the guys in the minors dont speak English, Mets shortstop Asdrubal Abraham Almonte Jersey Cabrera told Sporting News. I think that helps the guys down there as theyre coming up. Here in the big leagues, most of the Latin guys speak English pretty well. But I dont even care. If we got one, thats fine. I mean, its good to speak the language of your manager, but I dont care.For players, and for many fans, the managerial sample size that matters is one: the manager of your particular team. When Ben Revere got traded to Washington, he was excited to play for Baker, not because Baker is black, but because he has a track record of succe s and a good reputation with players.MORE: I know some people look at it and say, you know, we should have more blacks, more Hispanics, Revere said. I know its a big-time topic, especially with African-Americans in baseball. But, at the end of the day, its tough to get to that position, tough to get to that spot. I mean, Dustys one of only a handful of African-American coaches in all sports to be as good as he is. No matter what race it is, you have to perform well, and if you dont do good, youre going to get fired, youre going to lose your job. It comes down to the point that youre going to have to perform and get the players to respect you. It doesnt matter what Yan Gomes Jersey race you are if you dont perform, youre going to get fired.Then the numbers game starts again. While it will be more concerning if the trend of a low number of minority managers continues in the game for several years, and it is clear that the "Selig Rule" mandating minority candidates be interviewed for jobs, has not created a more diverse landscape, what is more important is diversity in hiring at all levels, throughout front offices, minor league systems and the league office. That is what Manfred is talking about more than the most high-profile jobs in dugouts, and he is right, because that is where the health of the sport from a diversity standpoint should really be measured.We want, because we believe it is important to our busine s, to have diversity in our player complement, our field managers, our general managers, our commi sioners office staff, Manfred said. To the extent that our fans, the people with whom we do busine s, are focusing on a particular area, and perceive a lack of diversity Edwin Encarnacion Jersey , thats an i sue that we work very hard to avoid.Its not just about those 30 individual managerial jobs, especially considering that one Latino player, who asked not to be named, rolled his eyes at the idea of baseball being in crisis over this i sue.MORE: I had one, the player told SN. I didnt have a good experience with him.Change takes time, especially when there are only a few managerial openings each year. Thats why the situation in the minor leagues is more encouraging. Those jobs change with far more frequency, and even though the recent trend in the majors has been to go away from minor league managers, hiring trends are cyclical.Im a player right now, and maybe when I retire Id like to be a coach, because we love this game and wed like to keep it here forever, Nationals left-hander Oliver Perez told SN. You have a lot of Latinos, a lot of Japanese, a lot of everybody. I dont think about the race.It will be nice when Major League Baseball can get to a similar place. For now, two out of 30 is not a good look, but its also not a crisis.