Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday announced the signing of 17-year-old Taiwanese outfielder, Ko Ching-hsien (柯敬賢), with a contract worth a total of US$750,000 (NT $24.27 million).
At a press event in Taipei on Monday, Ko was presented with a No. 91 Dodgers jersey in the presence of Dodgers’ director of Pacific Rim scouting Jon Deeble and scout Allen Lin to celebrate the signing.
Ko, who is of Indigenous Amis and South African descent, had been on Lin’s radar since he was 14 years old.
Photo: CNA
Deeble said he was made aware of the young left-handed hitter by Lin, and that time has proven Lin’s intuition to be correct, especially after Ko’s stellar performance at the 2023 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup last year.
At that tournament he hit .550 with a double, a home run and four RBIs, and had a .690 on-base percentage, helped by seven walks and two hit-by-pitches in 29 plate appearances.
His performance helped Taiwan win the silver medal at the competition and earned him a spot on Taiwan’s roster for the BFA U-18 Asian Baseball Championship this year.
Asked whether Ko will be allowed to play for his country at that tournament, Deeble said it was an honor to play for one’s country, and that the Dodgers will allow Ko to do so as long as he is healthy.
Ko said at the news conference that it had always been a dream of his to play for the Dodgers and that his goal would be to make the major league roster in four years after spending time in the minor leagues.
He received a surprise welcome from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a pre-recorded video.
Ko said the video came as a shock, and that at one point he thought his idol Shohei Ohtani might even appear.
He also revealed that his new jersey number was in honor of his late father, who had always been his rock and support system on his baseball journey prior to his passing in 2022.
The “91” represents the first two numbers of Sept. 13 (9/13), the date his father passed away, Ko said.
Though his father could not see his son sign with the Dodgers, Ko felt he was still able to keep his promise to his father that he would pursue a career in baseball and never give up.
Ko’s signing came after another young Taiwanese baseball star at the 2023 U-18 World Cup, left-handed pitcher Lin Wei-en (林維恩), was signed by the Oakland Athletics earlier this month for US$1.35 million.
Ko and Lin both went to Taoyuan Municipal Pingjen Senior High School and are cousins, and Ko on Monday hoped that they will both do well in the U.S.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS