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Friday, January 09, 2009

Fu-Te Ni to Set a Precedent....




.....As the first CPBL player to sign with a MLB team. In the past, successful CPBL players have made the jump to Japan - Ming-Chieh Hsu, Chun-Yang Tsao, Ying-Chieh Lin, En-Yu Lin, and Wen-Bin Chen are a few of the players who played in the NPB after starting their careers in the CPBL.

The Detroit Tigers signed former Chinatrust Whales LHP Fu-Te Ni, according to UDN reports. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, although there has been some speculation regarding what Ni was offered. Ni, considered the top lefty in the CPBL, was making roughly $3,600/month this past season.......a tough break for the Brother Elephants who've been hit with a case of deja vu - remember TJ Yeh?
*edited

Here's an English bio on Ni. In 2008 CPBL play, the two-year pro had 5 wins and 12 losses to go with a 3.34 ERA over 145.1 IP. He led the league in K's with 132 and allowed 35 BB's. Ni throws comfortably in the mid to upper 80's (he's topped out at 93 mph) and throws a slider, curve, changeup, and forkball.

Ni's website/album

Vid of Ni:


Other Vids: 1 2

4 comments:

BC said...

will he be playing in AA or directly to the bigs?

TTT said...

He'll get his opportunity in spring training to win a job, but if he doesn't succeed, then he'll start in AAA (according to news reports).

BC said...

well, good luck to him. I wish him the best and hope he can play well enough to pitch in the bigs...opposed to AAA. From the video, he seems like a pretty laid back guy. does he have a overpowering pitch(like Kuo's 4 seamer) or a signature pitch(like Wang's bowling ball sinker)? I wonder if he will be starting or relieving. its nice to see another Taiwanese lefty in the MLB. How's his velocity compared to Kuo's current velocity?

TTT said...

He's not an overpowering guy - won't blow away guys like Kuo. Deception is his game. Throws comfortably in the mid to upper 80's, but can dial it up to the low 90's at times.