Popcorn League 2020 Season
On September 25, the CTBA announced the roster for Taiwan’s National Development Squad which will compete in the 2020 Popcorn League this winter. Among those are eight Taiwanese MiLB players across five MLB organisations.
With the cancellation of the 2020 minor leagues season due to the coronavirus pandemic, Taiwan’s Popcorn League is likely to be the first live game for some of those MiLB players.
The Popcorn League is a semi-pro winter baseball league based in Taiwan. The 2020 season will feature ten teams from Taiwan’s industrial league, and each team will play 26 games from October 5 to December 15.
2020 Popcorn League Teams:
- Taiwan Cooperative Bank
- Taiwan Power Company
- ANYO Fresh
- Chii-Lih Coral
- Taoyuan Aerotropolis
- Taipei Highwealth
- Tainan City
- New Taipei City
- Taichung City
- Taiwan National Development Squad
Taiwanese MiLB Players in Popcorn League
- San Diego Padres – Hu Chih-Wei (RHP) – MLB
- Free Agent – Tseng Jen-Ho (RHP) – MLB
- Arizona Diamondbacks – Lin Kai-Wei (RHP) – Single-A
- San Diego Padres – Sung Wen-Hua (RHP) – Short-A
- Los Angles Dodgers – Cheng Hao-Chun (RHP) – Rookie
- Los Angles Dodgers – Lin Huei-Sheng (RHP) – Rookie
- Seattle Mariners – Chang Jing-Yu / Danny Chang (LHP) – Rookie
- Pittsburgh Pirates – Cheng Tsung-Che (SS) – Rookie
According to CNA, at least 10 Taiwanese #MiLB players will play in Taiwan's Popcorn League this offseason. The 10-team semi-pro winter league is set to begin on October 5. #MLBTW ? pic.twitter.com/CXDR7U8boJ
— CPBL STATS (@GOCPBL) September 8, 2020
The Guardians have sure worked Henry Sosa hard this year. I wonder how much he’ll have left next season.
Sosa is a beast. Velocity is around 155kph after 130+ pitches. He sort of ran out of gas in his final 4 games in the KBO (181 innings pitched between CPBL and KBO)
He’s got to make sure he gets a guaranteed salary from the Guardians next season, so if he gets hurt, he still gets paid.