Taiwan Announces Asian Games Roster Including Wang Yen-cheng and 7 WBC Players

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The roster for the Taiwan national baseball team, which will compete against our national team for the championship at the Nagoya Asian Games, was unveiled today (July 14). The list includes Wang Yen-cheng, who plays for Hanwha, and seven players who participated in this year's World Baseball Classic (WBC).

Reporter Bae Jeonghun has the story.

[Reporter]

The Taiwan Baseball Association announced today that it has finalized its Asian Games roster, consisting of 8 overseas-based players, including Hanwha's Wang Yen-cheng, 5 players from its domestic professional league, and 11 players from industrial league teams.

Wang Yen-cheng, who joined Hanwha this year and has performed impressively with 7 wins in the first half of the season, is highly likely to serve as a key starting pitcher for Taiwan and could potentially take the mound in the first game against South Korea.

Hanwha, having previously received a call-up request for Wang from the Taiwan Baseball Association, plans to cooperate with the request.

Players who draw even more attention than Wang are the core pitchers who performed well in the WBC last March.

Notably, three hard-throwing pitchers currently playing in Nippon Professional Baseball—Gu Lin-ruei-yang and Sun Yi-lei, who led the victory against South Korea, and Hsu Ruo-hsi, who served as Taiwan's ace—have all been selected for the Asian Games national team.

However, a variable remains as these three players have been struggling with injuries and a decline in pitching performance this season, possibly due to the aftermath of the WBC.

Lin Yu-min, the minor league left-handed pitcher who established himself as a "Korea killer" by starting and pitching well in two games against South Korea during the 2023 Asian Games, is also included.

In addition, with the inclusion of Oakland minor league hard-thrower Chuang Chen-chung-ao and Boston outfielder Cheng Tsung-che, a total of 7 players from the WBC roster have been named, signaling an intense competition for the championship against South Korea.

(Video Editing: Park Jeong-sam)

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