Team Taiwan today announced their 30-man roster for the World Baseball Classic (WBC), which includes two Taiwanese-Americans set to suit up for the first time.
The roster, captained by Chen Chieh-hsien, the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 most valuable player, consists of 16 pitchers, three catchers and 11 position players, including four outfielders.
Among them are five-year MLB outfielder Stuart Fairchild and infielder Jonathon Long, who play for the Triple-A affiliates of the Cleveland Guardians and the Chicago Cubs, respectively.
Photo: CNA
The two players were born to Taiwanese mothers and are to be making their international debuts for Taiwan.
Pitchers to watch include Lin Yu-min of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Lin Wei-en of the Athletics, both of whom have been invited to their teams' MLB spring training camps.
Also on the roster are two fireballers playing in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league: Gu Lin Ruei-yang and Hsu Jo-hsi, the best local pitchers in the CPBL in 2024 and last year, respectively.
However, only three of the 16 selected pitchers are left-handers.
Other notable players include Yu Chang, who was named Pool A most valuable player in the 2023 WBC, and Cheng Tsung-che, the only Taiwanese batter to have played in the MLB last year.
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