The name Yu-Chi Wang probably doesn't ring a bell for most people. However, in 2000-2001 Wang was the second Boston Red Sox signee from Taiwan, following Kevin Huang's signing in 2000. Wang-Yi Lin, the OF who signed with the Minnesota Twins last year, wasn't the first Taiwanese twin to join a MLB organization; that distinction falls to Yu-Chi Wang (whose twin bro Yu-Chen Wang was also a talented baseball player). Yu-Chi Wang, a RHP, stood around 5'11" and weighed about 180 pounds as a HS senior. Wang, who is 24 years old today, gained interest from the Sox because of his 88-92 mph fastball. Wang also attended HS baseball powerhouse San-Min HS, which has produced the likes of Chao-Kuan Wu, Chih-Hsien Chiang, and Chih-Hsiang Huang.
Wang never made it over to the US because of some pretty bad luck and timing. Wang was unable to obtain a visa to the US because of the 9/11 tragedy in 2001. The Red Sox were also in the midst of a change in ownership and the organization wasn't interested in lobbying the US government to grant him a visa at that sensitive time. So unfortunately for Wang his contract was voided.
Where is Wang today? I'm really not sure, but he isn't listed on any CPBL rosters. Maybe someone can fill us in as to how he's doing nowadays.
Thanks to
baseballtaiwan.net for the story.
3 comments:
Hi,
Yu-Chi Wang changed his first name to Yung-Hsing few years ago. He graduated from Chia-Yi University two years ago. In the 2005 draft of alternatvie compulsory military service players, he was drafted by
Cobras, but didn't sign for unknown reason.
He entered the next draft (six months or 1 year later, I forget) and this time he was drafted by Brother Elephants, and eventually signed.
He finished his military duty this year so this season will be his rookie season.
A report said his control problem is from his relatively short index finger.
Frank
Thanks for the update dude,
Good stuff; do you know if his twin is in the CPBL too?
Thanks, Yu-Cheng Wang also changed his first name, now to Fong-Hsing. (I didn't know why both brothers changed their first name until yesterday I saw an article reported that their mother made them changed it because it'll bring them good luck -_-)
He was also in the roster of Chia-Yi University, but rarely played, because in 2001 he had been drafted by the former Taiwan Major League team Fala(?), and lost his eligibility to playing college games.
Though I'm sure he's not in the military service yet, I didn't find any reports regarding his status at this time, and even not sure if he's already graduated or not.
Unlike his brother, he's free to sign with any team in CPBL now without going through draft because of his history with TML.
(Just chit-chat: I really hope Tsao and Kuo make it this season so I can have additional good reasons to go to Dodgers game....)
Frank
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