Team Taiwan has announced its 30-man roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic (WBC), which includes two Taiwanese-American players set to suit up for the first time.
The roster, unveiled yesterday and captained by 2024 WBC Premier Most Valuable Player Chen Chieh-hsien, 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: AP
Both players were born to Taiwanese mothers and would 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 — Gu Lin Ruei-yang and Hsu Jo-hsi, the best local pitchers in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League 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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