After sitting out five games, Tai-wan's Chen Chin-feng (陳金鋒) finally made his major-league debut for the LA Dodgers against the Colorado Rockies and scored a run.
Chen, the first Taiwanese baseball player to join the US major leagues, was one of six pinch hitters sent onto the field Saturday in the first half of the sixth inning, at Coors Field in Denver.
PHOTO: AP
Los Angeles used six pinch hitters in the inning, which ties a major league record last set by the Braves in 1993.
The Dodgers had scored 13 unanswered runs in the first four innings, when Chen went up to the plate to face Sean Lowe of the Rockies.
Chen was walked after three balls, two strikes, one outside pitch and another ball. With support from his teammates, Chen scored the 14th run for the Dodgers and they went on to win the game 16-3. LA is in the hunt for a wild card to the postseason playoffs.
"I imagined the major leagues would be a fiercely competitive battlefield, but now that I've tried it, I have more confidence about breaking into the major leagues," Chen said after the game.
He said he was satisfied with his debut. "I'm very happy to be able to contribute to a victory in the team's effort for the postseason."
Back in Taiwan, baseball officials said they were delighted with Chen's performance.
Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) Secretary Wayne Lee (
"His first at-bat is significant not only for his own baseball career but to fans all over Taiwan, as he is the first Taiwanese to play in the majors," he said.
"Chen's accomplishment will also inspire more youngsters in Taiwan to keep their baseball dreams alive and to pursue a future career in baseball."
Dean Yuan (
"Playing in the majors is a tremendous achievement. It used to be the `impossible dream' but it has now become a reality. It will inspire kids and be a tremendous boost for local baseball."
Yuan said Chen's arrival on the world's center stage for baseball would encourage local youngsters to play the game.
He said that in other sports, size is important and Taiwan is at a disadvantage. But he said Chen's example proved that in baseball, size is not an issue.
"It shows size doesn't matter. A lot of other Taiwan players are around the same build as Chen and it shows that anyone with ability can be a major leaguer."
Some commentators have said that with many of Taiwan's best players going to the US, Japan or South Korea, there will be a drain of talent out of the country.
"Actually, this creates a bigger dream," Yuan said. "In three to five years these players will return and their experience will be invaluable for the development of the game."
Former major-leaguer Jonathan Hurst, who pitches for the Taiwan's Brother Elephants, said Chen would do well with Los Angeles.
"[The] Dodgers is an organization that knows how to take care of young talent," he said.
"Chen will be getting plenty of good advice from people around him and I believe that he will get better and better as he continues his career in the major leagues."
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would