The Tokyo-based Yomiuri Giants have joined the Hanshin Tigers in showing significant interest in top Taiwanese slugger Wang Po-jung, local media reported yesterday.
Scouts from the two Nippon Professional Baseball clubs are in Taiwan for Lamigo Monkeys games this week to assess Wang’s condition and performance.
While he went hitless in four plate appearances in Wednesday’s 5-1 victory against Brothers Baseball Club in Taoyuan, Wang will have more chances to prove himself.
He won the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s Most Valuable Player award in 2016 and last year, with 29 homers, 40 doubles, 105 RBIs and a .414 average in 2016 and 31 home runs, 33 doubles, 101 RBIs and a .407 average last year.
As his contract with the Monkeys ends this season, Wang has made it clear that he wants to play in a foreign professional league next year.
In related news, Brothers pitching coach Scott Budner has been placed in charge of the team for their games against the Monkeys due to the absence of manager Cory Snyder, who was forced to take temporary leave, as his family’s home in Utah has been threatened by a forest fire.
Budner, a former Seattle Mariners farm team coach, joined Brothers Baseball Club earlier this year and has been credited with improving the pitching staff and making adjustments to players’ approach to the game.
The team on Tuesday issued a statement confirming Snyder’s return to Utah to be with his family, who he said have been safely evacuated.
“To all the amazing Brothers and Baseball fans of Taiwan. I have grown to love the country and especially the people of Taiwan over the last couple years I’ve been here. You all have been so amazing to me and my family. I’m sorry for the timing that I need to go home to help my family but it’s very critical with the wildfire so near my home and with my family being evacuated that I need to be there to support them as a father and husband. I will miss you all and hope I can get things resolved at home and my family back in our home as soon as possible so I can return to Taiwan to help the Brothers the rest of the season. I wish only the best for all the fans of Taiwan and hope to see you soon,” Snyder wrote on Instagram.
HSIEH ADVANCES: In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei was to play in the second round last night, but Taiwan’s Ray Ho exited in the men’s doubles It is more than 10 years since Grigor Dimitrov reached his sole Wimbledon semi-final and back then it still seemed a reasonable bet that the Bulgarian once dubbed “Baby Federer” would win a Grand Slam title. There were semi-final runs at the US Open and Australian Open after that, but it has never quite happened and despite him still being ranked No. 21, it most likely never will. Dimitrov, 34, remains one of the most stylish players on the circuit though, with his elegant single-handed backhand and smooth all-court game a rare reminder of how tennis was before the power merchants turned
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
TAIWANESE WIN: Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien and their partners won their first-round matches in the women’s doubles at the All England Lawn Tennis Club Late-night finishes and five-set matches are becoming a habit for Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon this year. On Wednesday, he wrapped up his win over Gabriel Diallo before the match was suspended — making sure the fifth-seeded American would not have to come back on court for a fourth straight day. Fritz overcame a bloodied elbow to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0), 4-6, 6-3 on No. 1 Court a day after he finished off another five-set win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a match that was halted on Monday at about 10:15pm after Fritz forced a fifth set with Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew looming. He
RSS