Taiwanese baseball star Yu Chang yesterday announced he would enter this year’s CPBL draft, signaling his intent to play professionally in Taiwan for the first time after a decade in the US.
In a post on Instagram, Chang said it was time to come home after spending much of the past 10 years in the MLB, most recently with the Tampa Bay Rays.
“It’s been ten years working away from home, I miss home very much, therefore I’ve decided to enter the 2024 CPBL draft,” he wrote in English on Instagram. “I really appreciate that the Rays organization has been very understanding and supportive of my decision.”
Photo: CNA
If Chang enters the draft, scheduled for Friday next week, he would likely be chosen by the New Taipei City-based Fubon Guardians, who have the first pick after finishing last in the CPBL last year.
The Guardians said in a statement that they had been in contact with Chang for some time.
Pending the conclusion of the draft and contract arrangements, they “look forward to [Chang] wearing a Fubon Guardians jersey in the second half of the season,” the team said.
Chinese-language sports Web site TSNA reported that the Guardians offered Chang a contract worth about NT$2 million (US$61,734) a month earlier this year.
The infielder initially signed as an international free agent with the then-Cleveland Indians in 2013. In 2016, he was ranked as Cleveland’s sixth-best prospect by Baseball America magazine.
He made his major league debut for the team, now called the Guardians, in 2019.
Two years later, he had the best year of his career, hitting nine home runs and 39 RBIs in 89 games with an on-base plus slugging percentage of .693.
In 2022, he bounced between the majors and minors, playing 69 games in the majors for the Guardians, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox.
However, it was in last year’s World Baseball Classic that he demonstrated his star power playing for Taiwan, with two home runs, eight RBIs, a .438 batting average and several clutch hits in four games.
He signed with the Red Sox after the tournament, but his momentum was quickly squashed on April 25 last year when he sustained a left wrist fracture in a game against the Baltimore Orioles that kept him off the field for months.
He played 22 games after returning to Boston before he was designated for assignment.
The 28-year-old signed with the Rays ahead of this year’s season, playing in 14 games for the team’s Triple A franchise, the Durham Bulls, where he sustained an oblique strain.
At the end of last month, he was again placed on the injury list after colliding with a teammate.
In the Instagram post, Chang said he was playing rehabilitation games in Florida and would be back on the field soon.
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