SAN DIEGO -- As Fernando Rodney will proudly tell you, the Dominican Republic produces a lot of plantains.
A variety of banana but with less sugar, thicker skins and more starch, plantains are enormously popular in the Caribbean, particularly in the Dominican Republic. They are an extremely popular food item and a prominent export there. (One recent report says the country consumes 2.4 billion plantains a year, or more than 200 per person.)
"We're born eating plátanos, either smashed or boiled," said pitcher Ervin Santana, using the Spanish word for plantain.