The level of competition in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) has reached an all-time high as new players flock the traditional weaklings in the league to help balance the talent pool and improve the competitiveness of the games.
The last time that the best and worst team in the league were separated by five or fewer games in the standings this late into a season was in 1992, when the Brother Elephants held a five-game lead over the last-place former Weichuan Dragons to close out that season.
Although leveling the playing field is good for the sport in general because it makes each game much more exciting to watch, the alarming fact that local rookie players that are making sizable contributions to their teams' recent success as it is perhaps the veterans who are slipping. In the end, all that will be left is one mediocre league.
With all due respect to the La New Bears' local rookie trio of Wu Si-yo (
Other rookies whose level of play far exceeds their years of experience in the league are the Macoto Cobras' "Chens' Brothers" -- of no relation: outfielder Chen Yuan-jia (
How can so many rookies do so well at the professional level so soon? And where has the transition from being an amateur to a pro gone?
"The order of the draft that favors the weaker teams has definitely helped us in getting solid players who can contribute right away to our system, but no one expected them to blossom the way they did," a high-level La New official who wishes to remain anonymous told the Taipei Times. "Maybe the gap between the pro's and the amateurs has shrunk."
Others quickly point out, judging from the 12-7 victory by the All-Star rookies over the top amateurs in this year's Future All-Star Game, that there is still a sizable gap between the amateurs and the pros. This year in the CPBL may be an exception where an unprecedented number of outstanding rookies have entered the league.
If the gap between the amateur and professional level has shrunk over the years, then the league must immediately find a way to improve its overall quality of competition. The last thing that a resurging professional sport such as baseball needs is to become a dead end for its participating players who work hard to reach the top, only to become too comfortable to excel in their chosen profession.
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