Each Chinese Professional Baseball League organization has ten or fewer games remaining on the first half of the season schedule. The Rakuten Monkeys and CTBC Brothers, both 4.5 games behind the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions for first place, will need to play well above .500 for the remainder of their first half-season to take over first.
As the CPBL season progresses, here is a look at the top news and notes from the past week in Taiwan’s highest level of professional baseball.
Yu Chang to Fubon Guardians?
On Tuesday, multiple news outlets, including World Baseball Network, reported that Taiwanese utility man Yu Chang will leave Major League Baseball and enter the 2024 CPBL mid-season draft. Chang explained this on his Instagram account, saying he missed home and wanted to return.
The Fubon Guardians have the first pick in the draft on June 28 and appear likely to take Chang with their selection. The Guardians finished last in the 2023 standings, allowing them to choose the best available player in the draft.
Whether Chang will be the best player in the draft is yet to be answered, but he is a reliable defender and has pop in his bat. While playing for Chinese Taipei in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Chang became an overnight celebrity in Taiwan, blasting two home runs with a .438 batting average in four games.
CTBC Brothers’ Wang Wei-Chen Earns Most All-Star Votes
Wang Wei-Chen, a third baseman for the CTBC Brothers, finished the 2024 CPBL All-Star Game voting with 347,683 votes, the most of any player in the CBPL. Wang has only made 24 appearances in 2024, hitting one home run with 18 RBI and a .330 batting average, but is a fan favorite.
A total of nine CTBC Brothers players, including Wang, will play for Team Star in the 2024 CPBL All-Star Game. The Brothers are 28-0-26 thus far in 2024, and their game against the Lions on Saturday broke the attendance record for a CPBL game, with 32,988 fans in attendance at the newly opened Taipei Dome in Xinyi, Taipei, Taiwan.
According to CPBL Stats on X, 69,624 fans went to their games at the Taipei Dome from Friday, June 14, to Sunday, June 16. Perhaps the popularity of Wang is a primary reason why.
Pitcher and Batter of the Month (May)
Starting pitcher Nick Margevicius of the TSG Hawks won pitcher of the month for May, going 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 28 innings.
The lefty previously spent time in MLB with the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners. He signed a contract with the Hawks in January after electing free agency from his minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves following the 2023 season. Margevicius is 3-2 with a 2.74 ERA for the Hawks in his first season in the CPBL.
First baseman Chen Chun-Hsiu of the CTBC Brothers won batter of the month for May, hitting .348 with a .988 OPS, three home runs, and 17 RBI.
The righty reached as high as Triple-A in the Cleveland Guardians organization in 2013 and represented Taiwan in the 2006 World Junior Championship, 2010 Intercontinental Cup, and 2011 Baseball World Cup. The 35-year-old is hitting .295 with four home runs and 25 RBI in 2024 for the Brothers.
This Day in Taiwanese Baseball History
On June 19, 1999, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Taiwanese left-handed pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo for $1.25 million.
Kuo did not make his MLB debut with the Dodgers until 2005 due to two Tommy John surgeries in 2000 and 2003. He went on to play seven seasons with Los Angeles from 2005-11 and made the 2010 National League All-Star team as a replacement for the injured Jason Heyward.
Kuo played the final four seasons of his professional baseball career in the CPBL with the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions and Fubon Guardians and retired at 36 in 2018.
CPBL Standings as of Wednesday, June 19
Photo Credit: Yu Chang #18 of Chinese Taipei celebrates hiting a grand slam at the bottom of the 2nd inning. (Photo by Yung Chuan Yang/Getty Images)
