The Fubon Guardians yesterday said cultural differences were to blame for American pitching coach Bruce Billings’ resignation after he clashed with manager Hong I-chung over the handling of pitchers in the bullpen.
Farm team pitching coach Lin Cheng-feng would replace Billings as pitching coach for the last week of the CPBL season, Fubon said in a news release.
Billings and Hong’s dispute has bitterly divided Fubon fans and has been trending on Taiwan’s sports forums.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Some support Billings, saying that after he started the job in August, he did a good job improving Fubon’s pitching staff.
Billings signed with the Uni-President Lions as a foreign pitcher in 2016 and played two good seasons. He then pitched for Fubon in 2018, before going back to US for a coaching job.
The San Diego native returned to Taiwan last year to join Fubon as the farm team’s pitching coach.
Other team fans have sided with Hong, saying that he has a vast wealth of experience, has won the most CPBL titles, with seven championship rings, and holds the CPBL record for the most wins at 938.
On Sunday, Fubon were playing at home at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Stadium. The Rakuten Monkeys won 10-9, condemning the Guardians to last place in the league standings for the second half of the season.
Fubon were ahead 7-6 at the top of the seventh inning, when pitcher Yueh Shao-hua gave up two walks and two hits and Rakuten took the lead by two runs.
Lefty Lin Yi-hsiang came in to relieve Yueh, but Lin gave up more hits and two more runs, then hit the next batter to put another runner on base.
Hong wanted to pull Lin, and instructed the pitchers in the bullpen to warm up quickly, but Billings reportedly said that it was his job to supervise the bullpen and Hong was interfering.
When the half-inning ended, Hong walked into the coachs’ room behind the dugout, followed by Billings, and witnesses said that the two men had a heated argument.
Other reports said the duo got into a physical altercation and had to be separated by other coaches and players.
Video footage posted online showed Fubon players clearing the bench and rushing inside the coachs’ room.
After the game on Sunday, Fubon did not release any information, except to confirm that Billings had resigned.
Before yesterday’s game, Fubon cleared the air, with deputy general manager Shen Yu-chieh saying that it was all due to a cultural misunderstanding.
“Hong and Billings had different ideas on how to handle players, and it was also due to cultural differences between East and West,” Shen said.
“Please consider that we are under the COVID-19 situation, and it has been quite difficult for foreign players and coaches to come to Taiwan for this year’s baseball season,” Shen added.
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