Odds and Ends.....

OF Lin (Hanshin Tigers)

REUNION of sorts: Hu, Wu, and Chen

With Barry Bonds announcing that he will be participating in the World Baseball Classic, there is a possibility that if Taiwan qualifies as the number two team out of the Asia pool, it would get a chance to face the the legend (assuming the US places in the top 2) in the second round. I'm sure Kuo would savor another shot at redeeming himself against Bonds. It's only the end of November, and I can't wait for March to arrive!!!!


Taiwan's infield of the present and future is bright with Hu at SS, Chen at 2B, and Wu at 1B. All three are under 23 years of age, and Hu and Chen have shown promise both on the offensive and defensive end of the field while playing in the US minor leagues. Wu has still yet to put together a healthy and productive campaign, but he has shown a promising bat. Factor in Yang - the 18 year old SS #1 pick of the Nippon Fighters, and you might have a solid foundation for the next decade.


OF Lin of the Hanshin Tigers is currently working on building his arm strength (throwing off the mound and long toss) to allow him to be more competent defensively in RF. In limited duty with the parent ball club, Lin flashed good wood. However, in order to get more playing time, he must improve his defensive abilities.


The talent level in Taiwan is self-evident and is reflected in the growing number of players signed to play in the US and Japan: As of today - 13 in the US and 7 in Japan. Who's next? Well in an earlier post, En-Yu Lin was mentioned as a possibility. Lefty Y.J. Lin of the Macoto Cobras is also seeking a new employer next year. With respectable numbers and demonstrating that he is one of the top pitchers in the CPBL, Lin hopes to take his game to the next level by playing in Japan. I hope both Lin's get their chance soon.

The Boys are Back in Town!!!!

Taiwan Legend Ming-Tsu Lu(L) with Chien-Ming Chiang(R)

From L to R:Kevin Huang, Chao-Kuan Wu, Chia-An Huang
(Damn, Wu and Huang must be enjoying the All-American diet - fast food!)

From L to R: Ching-Lung Lo, Chi-Hung Cheng, and Kuo-Hui Lo

L to R: Ching-Lung Lo, Chin-Lung Hu, Chien-Ming Wang

Yao-Hsun Yang

In preparation for the Baseball World Classic, a number of overseas players were back in Taiwan for registration. Check out the above pics from UDN.com

Amateur baseball updates.....

This past week, new national winners were crowned for infantile (11-12), high school, and adult - college aged divisions.

In the senior league (college) championships, the National College of Physical Education defeated Jiayi University by a score of 9 to 0.
From this division, names to remember for the future include: NCPE winning pitcher Chia-Chun Tang and Jiayi pitcher Che-Yi Su


In the junior (high school) tourney, PingZhen High School won the championship by defeating Hualien H.S. 5 to 4. Yilan beat Taitung 7 to 4 for third place.
Among the HS kids, names to remember include:
1)Hung-Cheng Lai (P) - throws lefty, HS senior, 5'9"tall, has been clocked at 90 mph, member of junior national team, a good athlete: reputed to have been timed at 11 seconds in the 100m dash, has been scouted by the Boston Red Sox
2)Wei-Da Su (P)
3)Jiang-Cho Chen (P) - 6'0 tall, junior in HS, clocked as fast as 90 mph
4)Chen-Hua Lin (P) - 6'0 tall, throws ~ 85 mph


In the infantile division (11-12 year olds), a team from Yilan defeated a team from Taitung 7-6 to win the championship.
Names to keep an eye out for include: Wen-Chia Song

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Since I'm a huge college football nut (I root for Penn State, but I went to USC and The U - University of Miami), I'm always over on Scout.com checking out the latest news on these programs. The guys over at Scout.com are currently posting all of their premium content for free from now until Sunday the 27th. There are some good reads on Chen: #1 #2, Cheng: #1 #2, Wang: #1 #2, and Hu #1 #2. You can also probably find some stuff on Chen, Tsao, and Kuo out there too. Remember, that most of these links are only good until this Sunday. So don't forget to save or print if you want to archive the content.

Where have you gone Kevin Huang?

Former Red Sox Chun-Chung (Kevin) Huang is finally going to get a chance to revive his baseball career. Huang will be playing with the LA New Bears in the CPBL next season.

After some limited success in the low minors with the Boston Red Sox organization (he made it to A ball), Huang was persuaded by his agent to showcase his wares for some NPB scouts. During this workout, Huang tore his labrum, and has been recovering ever since. The pitching exhibition was in violation of Huang's contract with the Red Sox, who then released Kevin.

That's one helluva lesson for any young man to take - lose your job and potentially have a career-ending injury all happen at the same time.

Despite all this, I'm still rooting for the kid to make a full recovery and succeed in the CPBL.

Misc. News....

En-Yu Lin with his 5 post season CPBL awards
Pic taken from the CPBL official website

Rookie En-Yu Lin of the Cobras won the league MVP/ROY awards. The kid had solid numbers - a league-leading 1.72 ERA, a 12-8 W/L record, and 152K's. Lin also won a golden-glove award for his stellar defense. The 6'2"- 24 year old is hoping to get a shot in Japan, and may follow the footsteps of former CPBL ROY's - Ming-Chieh Hsu of the Seibu Lions and Chung-Yang Tsao formerly of the Chunichi Dragons.

TaiwanNewsOnline Link

The Seibu Lions are thinking of moving Chih-Chia Chang to the bullpen as a reliever next year. The move could prolong the career of Chang, who had his past season derailed by injuries.

Chin-Feng Chen got a look by the Rakuten Eagles organization in the NPB. Word is that Chen didn't fare very well in his workouts - i.e. struggling with hitting off-speed breaking pitches. With his options shrinking, Chen might give it one more shot at the MLB and hope for the best in spring training.

Lions edge Bulls

Sinon lost a close game to the KBO champs 4-3. In a tight game, the Bulls continued to shoot themselves in the foot with defensive miscues. However, despite the loss, the CPBL champs showed that they are on equal footing with the KBO champs.

Boxscore

In the championship game, the Lions lost to the Marines in a much closer rematch 5-3. Despite being outhit, the Marines continued to receive timely hitting from import and ex-MLB player Benny Agbayani. Benny drove in 9 runs in the 4 games that he played in.

Bottom line: KBO and CPBL have comparable talent. The NPB still has better talent overall - especially in their homegrown pitching products. The KBO and CPBL have to rely on export pitchers to round out their starting rotations. Not surprisingly, the best young talent in Taiwan and South Korea usually end up overseas in Japan and the US. There aren't that many players in the CPBL who would be able to make the jump to the NPB or US minor leagues. En-Yu Lin of the Macoto Cobras, based on a number of factors - including size, age, and pitching skill, is one of the few that might have the talent to leave the CPBL.

Bulls Dehorned.....

Da Bulls were pummeled by the Marines 12-1. The game only went 7 innings because of the mercy rule.

Bright spots, if any for the Bulls were
1)SP Chien-Fu Yang's 7K's in 5 IP and only allowing 2 ER's
2) & CF Chien-Ming Chang, who continued his hot hitting as he drove in the Bull's only run

The game against the KBO champs will dictate who plays Lotte in the championship game.

To read more:
ShanghaiDaily
TaiwanNewsOnline
JapanTimesOnline
DailyYomiuri

Bulls win vs. China

The Sinon Bulls beat an all star team made up of professional players in China's CBA league 6-0.

In the other game, NPB champs Lotte handed the Samsung Lions a 6-2 loss.

Full box scores and results can be found for all of the games here.

The Sinon Bulls will match up against tourney favorite - the Lotte Marines tomorrow 11/11/05.
Let's see how the local kid - Yang fares against top notch NPB hitting.

Other reads on yesterday's action:
#1
#2
#3
TaiwanNewsOnline

A big thank you goes out to Maos and Bigdaub for keeping us updated on the action in Asia.

Edited 11/10/05 8:20 PM

Sinon Bulls and the Konami Cup....

There's some news on the strategy the Bulls will go with regarding pitching matchups in a recent Taiwan News Online article. Interesting matchups - the game vs China should be a stroll in the park. Assuming a loss to the NPB champs, the game against the Samsung Lions would be a must win, if the Bulls want to make it to the championship game. I'm not really sure if Martinez or Yang would be a better matchup against the Lions - tough call by manager Liu. Too bad Chung-Nan Tsai isn't the same pitcher he was a few years ago - they could've used him.

The Korea Times also has some good info in English on the Konami Cup. Read it here.

I'm not too sure about how frequently this site will be updated, but the NPB's official English website for the Konami Cup is here.

CPBL champs crowned.......

The Sinon Bulls swept to a CPBL championship over the Macoto Cobras and will be representing the CPBL in the Konami Cup. For more scoop on the Bulls, check here.

In other news, NY Yankees rookie Wang is back at home in Taiwan. Read more here and here.

Updates....

Chin-Feng Chen is getting interest from the NPB Rakuten Eagles. Bigdaub over at the TaiwaneseBallPlayers.com discussion forum has a write up on the news. There is also info at the Japanesebaseball.com forum.

In the CPBL, the Sinon Bulls have a commanding 3 - 0 series lead over the Macoto Cobras.
Link
Questionable managerial decisions by Taiwanese baseball icon and current Cobras coach Tai-Yuan Kuo have contributed to the huge deficit the Cobras face.