Chien-Ming Wang #67 of the Kansas City Royals looks on during the game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on August 24, 2016, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)
The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association announced the coaching staff for the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 tournament on April 11.
The Premier12 tournament will be from November 10-24 after the regular seasons in Major League Baseball, Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, the Korean Baseball Organization, Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, and the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan.
According to the WBSC website, the CPBL League preparatory committee approved building the coaching staff for the 2024 Premier12 event.
Jeffrey Jr. Koo is the president of the CTBA.
Former Major League Baseball pitcher and Olympian Chien-Ming Wang was announced as the Chinese Taipei pitching staff for the Premier12 event and is currently the pitching coach of the CTBC Brothers in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan.
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions coach Chih-Kang Kao will serve as the bench coach with Chinese Taipei at the Premier12 tournament.
Former CTBC Brothers manager Cheng-Min Peng will be the hitting coach for Chinese Taipei and current CTBC Brothers coach Chiang-Ho Che will be the infield coach for Chinese Taipei at the Premier12.
Former Rakuten Monkeys manager in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, Hao-Ju ‘Totoro” Tseng, was hired by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association to manage the nation at the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 tournament, the event X account reported on March 28.
Tseng and Wang are the only coaches returning from the Premier12 2019 tournament coaching staff for Chinese Taipei. Cheng was part of the Chinese Taipei coaching staff during the 2019 Premier12 tournament.
Chinese Taipei is ranked at No. 5 in the World Baseball Rankings from the WBSC and will have a roster of players from the CPBL or the independent and minor leagues in the United States.
Tseng is now the Rakuten Monkeys minor league manager for the 2024 regular season after stepping down as manager from 2020-23. His overall record managing with the Rakuten Monkeys was 245-224-11 during his four seasons.
During the last Premier12 event in 2019, Chinese Taipei finished in fifth place with a record of 4-3 and went 2-3 in the Super Round, not qualifying due to the Total Quality Balance run differential format from the WBSC. Chinese Taipei ended with the same record as the United States at 2-3 but did not qualify due to the TQB format.
In the first year of the Premier12 tournament, in 2015, Chinese Taipei finished in fifth place with a record of 2-3 in Group A on home soil at Douliu Baseball Stadium in Douliu, Taiwan. Due to the TQB format, they did not advance out of pool play and ended with the same record as Puerto Rico.
Chinese Taipei has won two gold medals at the Asian Baseball Championship in 1987, 2001, and 2019. Chinese Taipei, South Korea, and Japan all ended in a three-way tie at the Asian Baseball Championship in 1989. Chinese Taipei has only won one gold medal at the Asian Games in 2006.
The WBSC has yet to announce the confirmed game times schedule for the 2024 Premier12 event.