Bears Release Kevin Huang.....

*For the second time in his career, RHP Kevin Huang finds himself without a team. The La New Bears released the former Red Sox farmhand after he struggled this past season with injuries and his command. He will have until the 30th of this month to be picked up by another CPBL club.


*Astros signee Chia-Jen Lo threw in a college tournament yesterday. He pitched very well: topping out at 96 mph, while averaging 93-94 mph with good movement. The Red Sox, Royals, Reds, and Braves were there.


*As for all of the T-rex players (not involved in the gambling scandal) & lefty Ying-Chieh Lin (released by the Rakuten Eagles), they will be put into a "special draft" for the other CPBL clubs to draft these players. All of these players' contracts/salaries will then be renegotiated. The one positive to come out of this is that the domestic talent pool in the CPBL won't be as diluted and hopefully, the minor league teams will have a bit more depth to them.


*Ching-Lung Lo has been resigned by the Colorado Rockies.

Tung-Kao Cup Notes...

Amateur: Tung-Kao Cup
RHP Wen-Hao Cheng of Mei-Ho HS was clocked at 93 mph.

Chung-Tao HS of Yilan County, led by the strong pitching perfomances of C/RHP Ming-Chie Lin (6'3'', 195 lbs - reached a personal high of 89 mph) and OF/RHP Yu-Te He (6'0'', 185 lbs - clocked at 90 mph) will face off against San-Hsin HS of Kaohsiung City, which got strong performances from RHP Tzu-An Wang (6'5'', 190 lbs - threw 5 plus innings of 3 hit ball to beat powerhouse Ku-Pao HS of Taipei County) and RHP/1B Chia-Ming Huang (6'3'', 190 lbs) in the championship game of the tournament.

Cheng-Kung HS (in Taitung county) RHP Shen-Chie Huang (5'9'', 175 lbs) who is a 4th year HS SR, was clocked at 92 mph.

Representatives from the Yankees, Red Sox, Reds, Phillies, Braves, Twins, Royals, Cubs, and Angels were present at the tournament.



NPB:
CS Yang was 0-3 as the Fighters lost 4-1. Box

WY Chen threw another gem and picked up win #7 as he blanked the Giants over 8 innings (5 H, 7 K's). The Dragons won 1-0. Box



MLB:
More on Kuo and Hu - we won't see them in the NLDS.



Other:
RHP Chia-Jen Lo had a bullpen workout with the Angels in Taiwan last week - he topped out at 92 mph.
*UPDATED

Deal or No Deal.......

Here's an update on two of the bigger-named unsigned amateur pitchers on the island. Both players have had some decent offers thrown their way by MLB teams. However at this time, both kids are gambling on a bigger pay day down the line. What was at stake?

RHP Chih-Lung Huang (pictured on right) turned down a $150K offer while RHP Chia-Jen Lo (pictured on left) turned down $200K - a mistake on their behalves? Perhaps........only time will tell.

Post-Olympic Amateur Prospect Positioning.....

There were three amateurs on the NT - all pitchers: Chia-Jen Lo, Kai-Wen Cheng, and Chen-Chang Lee.

One player def. helped himself with his performance in Beijing while two others potentially hurt their stock.


RHP Chen-Chang Lee
The side-armer reached 92 mph in his outing against the USA and flashed an above average slider to help boost his value in the tournament after living in oblivion over the past 2 years. He is currently with CSMG and has reportedly turned down a $150-175K offer ($90 K per another source) from the Indians before. Lee, who was once hyped by Keith Law as the top signable Taiwanese collegiate pitcher in 2007, has garnered little interest over the past 2 years due to poor performances but has rebounded now. His expectation is likely to reach ~ $300,000. The down-side to Lee is the fact that being a side-armer limits his potential somewhat and he hasn't had the best track record over the past 2 years. He also has a history of a shoulder injury as reported by the Taiwanese media. CC Lee's blog/album *edited/updated



RHP Chia-Jen Lo
The most sought-after prospect available on the team. His value dropped as a result of his performance during the Olympics. Velocity topped out at 93 mph but he had poor command of his fastball and poor breaking pitch offerings. Throw in his rumored demand of ~$400,000 and a possible history of a shoulder injury, his chances of signing with a MLB team are lower now than before the tourney. Word is that the Red Sox and Rangers have held off in their pursuit of him. Also the Twins made an offer to Lo prior to the Olympics which was turned down. That offer is now off the table. His agent is Kenny Lin, who broke off from KDN. CJ Lo's album/blog *edited


RHP Kai-Wen Cheng
His performance against Japan significantly dropped his value; he was lacking in a few key elements: composure on the mound, command of his pitches, and velocity on his fb. He is still young but because he is undersized, has average velocity, a subpar release angle, and history of a shoulder injury, the chances of him signing anytime soon are unlikely. In addition, his signing bonus demand is ~ $300,000. The Twins and Royals likely still have some interest but the offer would be very low. He is represented by Bros Sports. KW Cheng's album/blog


To wrap things up, all 3 pitchers are talented but also have a history of injuries and high signing bonus demands. If Lee and Lo do not sign anytime soon, then they will likely play in the CPBL. Cheng will continue on with college.

CJ Lo Gathering Some Royal(s) Interest.......

CJ

The KC Royals are interested in righty Chia-Jen Lo. Word has it that the Royals scout in Taiwan went to see Lo several times when he was working out in Kaohsiung's training complex. (The Royals scout has refuted the rumor of seeing Lo in person). Lo has garnered attention from the Red Sox, Rangers, Twins, and A's - but has not been offered the amount he's looking for. Lo, who just completed a 3rd place showing in Czechoslovakia, and collegiate NT mate Kai-Wen Cheng are heading back to Taiwan to join the Olympic team.*Updated

Lo's web album

7/5 Scores and News...

CPBL:
Lions 6 - T-Rex 5:
WP - Chien-San Kao (1-2, 1.1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 K's, 0 BB's)
LP - Cory Bailey (5-3, 6.2 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 3 K's, 2 BB's)

Lions lineup:
OF Wu-Hsiung Pan 2-5, HR #9, RBI
2B Sen Yang 3-4, 2B, RBI
3B Tilson Brito 3-4, 2B, HR #14, 4 RBI's - game MVP
DH Lien-Hung Chen 0-4
1B KC Kao 3-5

Rex lineup:
RF Ssu-Chi Chou 2-5, HR #4, 3 RBI's
DH Chia-Hsien Hsieh 1-3
CF Yuan-Chia Chen 2-3


Bears 4 - Whales 2:

CCC - Game MVP

WP - Chih-Chia Chang (1-2, 6 IP, o R, 6 H, 9 K's, 2 BB's) - game MVP
LP - Fu-Te Ni ( 3-7, 7 IP, 4 R - 2 ER, 5 H, 3 K's, 3 BB's)

Bears lineup:
RF Yen-Wei Shih 1-3, 2B, RBI
SS Chih-Sheng Lin 1-4, 2B, RBI
DH CFC 0-3
3B Chih-Wei Shih 2-4, RBI

Whales lineup:
3B Wilton Veras 2-5
DH Cheng-Chi Huang 2-3, 2B, RBI
C Yi-Wei Lee 2-4



NPB:
The Tigers won 9-4. WC Lin was 2-5. Box



MILB:
R - The GCL Indians lost 1-0. CH Chen was 0-4. Box

R - The GCL Red Sox beat the Reds 5-2. CH Huang was 0-3. WY Lin started and threw 4 scoreless innings, earning a ND. YW Kuo was 0-4 with an error. Box

A - Asheville won 13-6. SA Kuo started but earned a ND. He allowed 4 runs on 3 hits in 2.2 IP. Box
*Updated


Amateur Front:
Wei over at Saber-Scouting has a good recap of the top signable kids in Taiwan:

"Wei // Jul 3, 2008 at 12:47 am

Some agents are shopping around their clients in Taiwan.

CSMG-RHP Rong-Hao Hsieh, 18, 6′1”, 188, fastball 86-89mph, highest velocity 91mph, slider. Good command of pitches. But has regressed this year velocity not as good as before. Does not have good changeup or forkball. Heard that the asking price is $400,000. Braves appear to be the only team interested.

WMG-RHP Cheng-Hao Wang, 18, 5′10”, 180, fastball 87-92mph, slider, forkball. Asking price is $300,000. Cubs not long ago had tryout.

Jerry Sung-RHP Chih-Lung Huang, 19, 5′9”, 174, fastball 86-90mph, highest velocity 92mph, slider, forkball. Asking price is $300,000. Word is that Rangers had some interest.

Bros Sports-RHP Kai-Wen Cheng, 20, 5′9”, 176, fastball 87-90mph, highest velocity 93mph, good slider, quality command. Asking price is $150,000. Twins interested.

IBB-RHP Ying-Shan Wang, 19, 6′1”, 178, fastball 87-89mph, highest velocity 90mph, good curveball, has a changeup. Okay delivery. Asking price is $250,000.

IBB-C Kun-Sheng Lin, 21, 5′9”, 180, good defensively, good hands. White Sox interested.

KDN-RHP Chia-Jen Lo, 22, 5′11”, 180, fastball 89-93mph, highest velocity is 94mph, hard curveball, forkball. Asking price is $400,000. Red Sox, Rangers, and Athletics interested.

KDN-LHP Yi-Cheng Wang, 22, 6′3”, 174, fastball 86-90mph, highest velocity is 91mph, slider, forkball. Asking price is $400,000. Yankees interested."

*Here's an additional two kids:

Bros Sports - RHP Chun-Chen Chiang, 5'10'', 177lbs, FB 86-89, 92 tops, slider. Asking price > $100K. Reds and Red Sox have worked him out.

WMG - RHP Yi-Che Kan, 22, 6'1'', 185lbs, 86-89, 90 tops, slider, split, asking price is $300k, had knee surgery before.

A Slow Monday....

NPB:
The Lions lost 10-5. MC Hsu pitched 1/3 of an inning - facing one batter in the 3rd inning. Box

MILB:
R - The GCL Reds won 9-2. YW Kuo was 1-5 but committed 2 errors in the game. Box

R - In the GCL, the Indians won 5-3 in 7. CH Chen was 0-3. Box

R - The GCL Tigers beat the Yankees 2-1. CT Tang was 2-4 with a double. Box

A - Greenville lost 5-3. CH Lin was 1-5. Box

A - Lansing lost 2-0. CH Cheng threw 2 shutout relief innings, K'ing 3. Box

OTHER - As reported by Dianna in the comments section, Twins minor leaguer Wang-Wei Lin had TJ surgery (like his bro - WY Lin) and is out for the season.

Collegiate NT:

The team is back in action on Wednesday as it kicks off a 6 game series against the US collegiate NT.
As previously mentioned in the comments section, there was a Chih-Lung Huang sighting yesterday - and he performed well - throwing 6 shutout innings while holding the NJCAA All-Star squad to 1 hit. While he did K 3, he also walked 4 batters. Well regarded reliever Chia-Jen Lo also made his first appearance of the series - throwing a perfect 9th inning. 3B Chih-Pei Huang cracked the only HR of the series (for Taiwan) in the 5th inning. Box/Play-By-Play

The Saga of Chin-De Chang...

Chin-De Chang

photo - Apple Daily


Mr. Lin

As reported by Yam Sports and China Times, Chin-De Chang is a 14-year old (DOB 5/17/1993) top power hitting prospect from Taiyuan junior HS in Taitung, Taiwan. The 2 way player (left-handed hitting SS and RHP) stands a shade under 5'10" and weighs 171 pounds. The youngster was good enough to draw the attention of the KDN Sports Agency. Chang and his family ended up signing an agreement to let the agency represent him. The young man was on his way to following in the footsteps of many top Taiwanese junior high prospects who attend HS in Japan when his junior HS found out. The school's baseball program would have been suspended as a result of Chang's signing with an agent. Furthermore, school officials stated that Chang's father is illiterate and was duped by the agency. Based on the circumstances, the kid and his family decided against going to Japan. The KDN agency sent someone named Mr. Lin to the school to try and work out something. Since February of this year, Mr. Lin had been by the school multiple times, demanding that the school release Chang to him. The school was alarmed by the demands and presence of Mr. Lin on their campus and called the police as well as releasing this story to the media. KDN will seek legal recourse (threatening to sue for $1 million NT) since Chang and his family signed a binding contract.
Speaking of binding contracts, Chia-Jen Lo is also represented by KDN. Lo has a binding 5 year contract with the agency. KDN will receive a 15% cut of anything Lo receives over the duration of his contract.

Chia-Jen Lo Update...

Taiwanese news reports are stating that amateur pitcher Chia-Jen Lo has received quite a bit of interest from three MLB clubs: the Texas Rangers, the Oakland A's, and the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox reportedly offered Lo ~ a $200 K signing bonus, an amount Lo considered too low.
The 21 year old (about to turn 22 next month), who was the hardest throwing NT member at the Final OQT, has been listed anywhere from 5'10" to 6'1" (as listed on his web profile). If he doesn't sign a pro contract, Lo hopes to make the NT and participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Huge Win Against Mexico!

The NT defeated Mexico 6-1 on Saturday. This was an impressive victory considering who was on the Mexican NT. The Mexican NT had several players with AAA or MLB experience including positional players Karim Garcia, Jesus Cota, & Miguel Ojeda, and pitchers Roberto Ramirez, Jose Silva, & David Cortes.

SP Chien-Fu Yang and amateur relievers Kai-Wen Cheng (clocked at a high of 94 mph!) & Chia-Jen Lo (clocked at a high of 95 mph!) limited the potent lineup to only 1 run on 7 hits combined. On offense, Cheng-Min Peng led the way with 3 hits and 2 RBI's. The NT collected 13 hits against the Mexican pitchers.

Game Recap
Box Score

Other winners on the day included South Korea, Canada, and Germany.

Taiwan plays Germany tomorrow.

*Here's a look at the personal sites/albums of Kai-Wen Cheng and Chia-Jen Lo.

Monday Briefs...

Amateur:

photo from Liberty Times


KW CHENG
photo from Apple Daily

Chinese Culture University won the just completed collegiate tourney (Mei-Hua Flag Tourney) today, winning 8-1 in the championship game. The star of the game was CCU's SP Kai-Wen Cheng who allowed 1 run on 3 hits over 7 IP - he also had 6 K's. Cheng is a former youth and junior NT standout, who won the 2000 Bronco Division Pony League World Series and basically single-handedly defeated the Cuban junior NT and shut down the US junior NT last year. The CCU team was loaded with talent as the roster also included: RHP Chia-Jen Lo (who throws in the low 90's), sidearmer RHP Chen-Hua Lin, & recent HS graduate C Chia-Chu Chen.

Other stars in the tourney included IF/C Chun-Hsiu Chen who hit the most HR's and had the most RBI's in the tourney and LHP Hung-Cheng Lai who was 2-0 in the tourney with a sparkling 0.00 ERA.*Updated*

More on the Shidax signings....

Thanks to Frank, the 2 kids who were signed by Shidax are P Chia-Jen Lo and OF Chien-Yu Kuo. Read more here.

Lo recently turned 20 years old (DOB: 4/7/86). He stands 5'10" and weighs 160 pounds. The righty was selected to the 2004 Taiwanese Junior NT. His stats for the 2004 World Junior Championships can be found here. Recent BoSox signee Chih-Hsien Chiang was Lo's teammate that year. Currently Lo is playing for the MeiFu Giants in the men's amateur spring 2006 tourney. Lo has pitched in 4 games, completing 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, an earned run, with 4 K's and 1 walk. His ERA was 1.40 through the first 5 weeks.

Chien-Yu Kuo is a 21 year old (DOB: 9/24/84) OF with a storied amateur career. Kuo was elected to the 2002 Taiwanese Junior NT and performed extremely well on a prospect laden team. Kuo's teammates on the 2002 junior NT included: Ching-Lung Hu of the Dodgers, Chao-Kuan Wu of the Mariners, Wei-Yin Chen of the Dragons, Po-Hsuan Keng of the Blue Jays, and current amateur pitching standout - Sung-Wei Tseng. During the 2002 World Junior Championships, Kuo hit over .400 (.406), tied for the team lead in HR's (4 - with Hu), and was second on the team with 10 RBI's. Click here for more of Kuo's 2002 World Junior stats.

I think that this is great exposure for these kids and will give them a better opportunity to get scouted by the NPB.