CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #42
Chinatrust Brothers News: Nick Additon
After having difficulty in re-signing Bryan Woodall, the Chinatrust Brothers have signed LHP Nick Additon, according to several Taiwanese media outlets.
Based on the latest rumours, the Fubon Guardians and the former Chinatrust Brothers ace Bryan Woodall have reached an agreement for the 2018 season.
Under the current CPBL regulations, the Guardians are unable to confirm the signing until the 1st of March. Technically speaking, the Guardians can not even approach Bryan Woodall until the end of February unless they have the consent from the Chinatrust Brothers.
Additon was originally signed by the Brothers back in August 2016, prior to the 8-31 trade deadline. He went on to post a record of 4.30 ERA and 1.46 WHIP over 6 starts and 37.2 innings.
In 2017, Additon’s contract was bought out by KBO’s Lotte Giants for $100,000 USD after his stellar performance against the Samurai Japan. He left Taiwan with a 7.20 ERA and 1.80 WHIP with only 5 innings of work.
Addition struggled in the KBO and was eventually released by the Giants in July 2017. Shortly after, he signed a minor league deal with the Colorado Rockies and was assigned to the Double-A.
- CPBL 2016 – 4.30 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 37.2 innings.
- CPBL 2017 – 7.20 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, 5 innings.
- KBO 2017 – 5.91 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 70 innings.
- MiLB AA 2017 – 2.45 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 25.2 innings.
Chinatrust Brothers News: Mitch Lively
According to UDN Sports, the Chinatrust Brothers have finalised the deal with former NPB Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters RHP Mitch Lively.
Lively was drafted by the Rockies in 2007. He spent four seasons pitching in the Triple-A with a combined record of 4.12 ERA and 1.34 WHIP over 365 innings.
In 2017, Lively pitched in the Mexican League where he posted 2.41 ERA and 1.25 WHIP over 74.2 innings of work.
Lively continues to pitch throughout the winter in the Mexican Pacific Winter League. He finished second in the Mexican Pacific League with a 2.50 ERA and second in strikeouts with 63. (Thanks to Burly from Burly’s Baseball Musings for the additional info)
Further Readings
Foreign players come and goes, therefore we have compiled a foreign players tracker to keep track of all the foreign players for the 2018 CPBL season.
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Mitch Lively looks like a good sign for the Brothers. I did not include him on my list of possible CPBL prospects because I expected he would remain in the Mexican (Summer) League in 2018, since he played there last summer and pitched in the Mexican Pacific League this winter. Lively finished second in the Mexican Pacific League with a 2.50 ERA and second in strikeouts with 63.
Yeah, it’s a really good pick up for the Brothers. On paper he seems like the type of pitcher that’s going to do well in the CPBL. From a few winter ball videos I saw, guys got a really decent splitter/ fork ball and fastball hoovering around 92-94 mph.
The Mexican Pacific League (LMP) is generally considered to be a better league than the Mexican (summer) League, because the LMP has fewer teams (8 compared to 16), meaning that only the better Mexican League players play during the winter. Further, the LMP adds MLB-system minor leaguers and elite Independent-A league players, who don’t play in Mexico during the summer.
However, the Mexican summer League is a better league than the Atlantic League from which the CPBL has been drawing a lot of talent lately.
Yeah, it’s been a while since CPBL draw a top talent from Mexican League, they used to do that quite a bit back in the 90s. Cesar Valdez from 2015 was the last one that I can remember that was dominating Mexican League prior coming to CPBL.
Rumor has it (per mykbo.net) that former Milwaukee Brewer Wang Wei-Chung will be pitching for the NC Dinos of South Korea’s KBO in 2018.
Haha, I know because I’m the one who told MyKBO that 🙂
I do a lot more Taiwan baseball English news on http://www.twitter.com/GOCPBL
Also latest rumour, Guardians is also eyeing a LHP from the Mexican League and a LHP from the ABL. I guess they want to have those 2 as back up just in case they can’t sign Bryan Woodall and Zack Segovia.
If Woodall signs with Fubon, that is a big loss for the Brothers. I tend to think that Segovia is the pitcher among those listed in the article who won’t pitch well in 2018 because of his age (35) and the fact that he didn’t pitch nearly as well as his great 16-5 won/loss record last year.
Ryan Bollinger and Frank Gailey are the two most effective starters in the ABL so far this season. I wonder if the Mexican League lefty could be Tyler Alexander. One thing to be said for the ABL, it is probably far less expensive for CPBL teams to send scouts there to evaluate pitchers, than to send them to the Caribbean.
I really think Woodall is going to Fubon in 2018. The way Guardians GM talk about this issue, it’s seems like a done deal, but they just don’t want to admit it. (They can’t until first of March)
Segovia is a workhorse, if he can still output about 150 innings+ in 2018 it is still a big help to Guardians as a #3 starting pitcher. It will give Guardians more room to develop their younger local starting pitching team.
Rumour has it, Lamigo Monkeys offered Segovia $20,000 USD a month hoping to re-sign him. Based on Segovia’s Facebook posting, I think he’s either signed or agree to term with a CPBL team already.
From my understanding, one of a former Guardians bullpen catcher is working in ABL this offseason. Maybe he was the person that recommended ABL pitchers to Guardians? And since Guardians is sending people to watch Chiang, might as well see other pitchers while they’re there.
My guess is that a CPBL team would be more interested in Frank Gailey than Ryan Bollinger, if the two finish the 2017-2018 ABL season roughly where they are now. Gailey pitched well in the Atlantic League last summer (4.17 ERA in 153 IP with 112 Ks), while Bollinger appears not to have pitched professionally last summer after a so-so season in the Can-Am League in 2016.
Quite possibly Bollinger was hurt. That’s when actual scouting would be able render an opinion as to whether Bollinger’s recent ABL performance suggests he’s currently a better pitcher than his past records suggest.