Taiwan’s national baseball team finalized a 36-player training roster that it would draw on to compete in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) qualifying round in Taipei later this month and began training for the event on Monday.
Of the 36 players, there are 19 pitchers, four catchers, eight infielders, including Taiwan’s star of the 2023 WBC Yu Chang, and five outfielders, while nine of the players compete abroad.
However, only two of the players — catcher Lin Chia-cheng and outfielder Chen Chieh-hsien, were on the team who won the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 championship in November last year.
Photo: CNA
The roster has to be whittled down to 28 for the Feb. 21 to 25 qualifying round at the Taipei Dome, but regardless of who plays, Taiwan would be heavily favored to advance to next year’s WBC finals.
To advance, Taiwan would have to take one of the top two places in a qualifying group that also includes Nicaragua, Spain and South Africa.
Neither Spain nor South Africa made it to the 2023 WBC finals, and a win by either nation over Taiwan, on a high after their Premier12 win and currently ranked world No. 3 by the WBSC, would be considered a massive upset.
The top 16 of the 20 teams in the 2023 WBC finals automatically qualified for next year’s edition of the top global baseball tournament that usually draws many of the game’s top stars.
Taiwan have to qualify because they finished last in their 2023 WBC group by virtue of tiebreakers after all five teams had a 2-2 record.
Of the nine players on the training roster who play overseas, eight are pitchers, including Zhuang Chen Zhong-ao, Sun Yi-lei, Lin Sheng-en and Sha Tzu-chen, while Cheng Tsung-che is an infielder.
Lin Sheng-en, 19, who plays in the Cincinnati Reds organization, was the only overseas player who reported for Monday’s training session, while the others are expected to report in between Monday and Friday next week, team manager Tseng Hao-jiu said.
Lin Chia-cheng, 27, is currently a free agent and in the US trying to negotiate a new contract and might not be available for the WBC qualifiers, CPBL president Tsai Chi-chang said.
Yu Chang was not able to play in the Premier12 tournament due to injury, but he said he is in good physical condition and would be ready for the games later this month.
Taiwan are to train for the WBC qualifiers at the Taipei Dome until Thursday next week and then at the Tianmu Baseball Stadium from Friday next week to Feb. 17.
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about ￡2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Less than a week after splashing out a world-record fee for Naomi Girma, Chelsea has spent big again to bring England midfielder Keira Walsh back to the English Women’s Super League. Walsh left European champions Barcelona after more than two years to join Chelsea for a reported ￡400,000 (US$496,000) on Friday. Walsh was the world’s most expensive player for two years after moving to Barcelona from Manchester City for a reported ￡400,000 in 2022. That status now belongs to Girma, the US defender who cost Chelsea a reported ￡900,000 to sign from the San Diego Wave. Still, it means 27-year-old Walsh — a technically
RSS