Wow, it's been quite a year for Taiwan baseball. 2006 has given us lots of good memories (and some bad) and for that reason will probably be remembered by baseball fans for quite some time.
Here are some of the highlights of 2006 (in no particular order):
1)Chien-Ming Wang's 19 Major League wins/his 2nd place finish in the AL Cy Young Race/becoming the first Taiwanese pitcher to win a postseason game
2)The country's first gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games
3)Kuo's rise/fall/rise again and return to his status as a starter in the Major Leagues/making an appearance in the postseason as a starter
4)The emergence of Yung-Chi Chen - Mariners farmhand who had a phenomenal year: All-Star in the Cal League - promoted to AA/named to the Futures All Star Game/Intercontinental Cup All-Star/Arguably the MVP of the Taiwanese NT during the Asian Games
5)Winning a bronze at the Intercontinental Cup - beating Japan, South Korea, and Cuba during the tourney
6)Winning a silver medal at the World University Baseball Championships - beating Cuba in the process (one of 4 times this year!!!!)
7)Winning the Pony League Palomino Championships (17-18 year olds)
8)Winning the Asian Youth Championships
9)Despite finishing 5th at the World Junior Baseball Championships - beating both the US and Cuba in the same tourney
10)The LA New Bears defeating the KBO champs and barely losing twice (by 1 run) to the NPB champs in this year's Konami Cup
11)The emergence of Chien-Ming Chiang in the NPB - offsetting the disappointing setbacks to Wei-Yin Chen and Ying-Chieh Lin, the release of Chih-Chia Chang, and the horrible season by Ming-Chieh Hsu
12)The signing of 5 kids by Major League teams: 1)P Sung-Wei Tseng - Indians 2)P Chen-En Hong - Braves 3)OF Wang-Wei Lin - Twins 4)P Po-Yu Lin - White Sox 5)IF Chih-Hsiang Huang - Red Sox
& 4 kids by NPB teams: 1)P Yi-Hao Lin - Giants 2)IF Ping-Yen Lee - Hawks 3)P En-Yu Lin - Eagles 4)P Si-Yo Wu - Marines
3 to Watch out for in 2007:
1)Chih-Hsien Chiang - Red Sox
2)Chung-Shou Yang - Fighers
3)Yi-Hao Lin - Giants
I can't wait to see what's in store for 2007! Happy Holidays!
*edited*
21 comments:
I don't think Yi-Hao Lin is going to play pro next year, isn't he still a year or two from finishing HS in Japan?
you forgot WBC! even tho taiwan didn;t advance they did throw the first pitch of WBC!
Well, Lin will be training with the minor league team, so I'm curious to see if he actually gets an opportunity to pitch in a nigun game.
Will, those were my personal highlights, but feel free to add what you think is pertinent to that list.
Korea > Taiwan
30 Major Leaguers > 3 Major Leaguers
ha where did u get the numbers 30 and 3?
Only 13 highlights? Korea or Japan would've double it up around 25 easily...
Hey Dae Han Min Kok ... what's the population in Korea/Japan compared to Taiwan?
You wanna stop being so nationalistically overbearing?? ...This is a Taiwan baseball website that just reports on Taiwan baseball---no one ever went on to insult any other countries ballplayers you know...just chill
Do you know how to speak your own language?
dae han min KOOK
hater hater... why cant anyone be happy for other people for a change. I dont know why you have to come post on a blog pertaining to TAIWAN baseball and say how Korea is so good when this blog has nothing to do with Korea. Are you mad that Korea lost to Taiwan in both the I-cup, Konami Cup, and Asian game this year? or what... Just because a country other than Korea does well in baseball doesnt mean you have to bash them. As for that 30-3 ratio, I dont know where you got those numbers but their wrong. Anyway, Taiwan has been fielding some great talent recently.. You'll be sure to see alot more Taiwanese MLB players in the near future. Think Hu Chin Lung,Yung Chi Chen, Tseng Sung Wei, and hopefully Chin Hui Tsao once his arm recovers. Chill with the Taiwan baseball bashing-- Both Taiwan and Korea are good at baseball, just leave it at that.
Hey look, Tsao Chin Hui's current status is ACTIVE according to the Rockies site. I guess his arm is ok... Hopefully he will be playing again next mlb season.
FYI, Tsao was non-tender by the Rockies, he's free to negotiate a contract with any clubs now.
I say a change of scenery is good. I like to see Tsao be somewhere in the NL East/Central.
Korea > Taiwan?
I guess "Dae Han Min Kok" is right, after all Korea IS bigger than Taiwan in land mass... but anything other than that is up for debate. For one thing, please try to pick on a country your own size. I don't ever see any of you having the balls to bash Japanese baseball.
Tsao is off the 40-man roster
Guess that's what happens when you're non-tendered.
what team do you think will sign him?
hahaha who cares how many koreans are in the majors, they all suck anyway. Name one good player as good as Chien Ming Wang or has potential like Hong Chih Kuo. Exactly.
Ignore the troll. Most of the Korean-Americans I know are pretty cool.
As for Tsao, (assuming he's fully recovered) hopefully he'll get another shot to resurrect his career somewhere else.
Hi thewaiwaneseterror,
Wow! I am so excited now to find your weblog. How nice! I was so moved by the Taiwanese baseball players this year. Congratulations for the gold medal in Doha!
I made a weblog that support the team, TPE.
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/doha_tpe/
Please add Lin Weizhu to your watch list in 2007 ;)
I do agree with you. Chen Yungchi is the best player for me, too. He is much valuable than Matsuzaka!
Toto,
Can't read too much of your blog (I'll try babelfishing it later), but thanks for the kind words.
Wei-Chu Lin would be one to watch if he gets more playing time next year. Getting one pinch hit plate appearance a game won't help with Lin's development.
what's the population in Korea/Japan compared to Taiwan?
Well, D.R.'s population is much less than Taiwan, and how many players in the MLB are from the D.R.?
Name one good player as good as Chien Ming Wang or has potential like Hong Chih Kuo. Exactly.
Wang/Kuo are good, but quantity > quality.
You don't think Korea has good prospect in MLB? You must never heard of Shin-Soo Choo.
Population Korea: 48,846,823 (July 2006 est.)
Population Taiwan: 23,036,087 (July 2006 est.)
So I dont understand how you come to the conclusion that D.R.'s population is much less than Taiwan?
"You must never heard of Shin-Soo Choo."
exactly. No one has heard of him.
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