CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #275
Rakuten Monkeys News: Brandon Waddell
It’s mid-season time, and of course, it is usually the time for the baseball teams from NPB, KBO and CPBL to find replacement foreign players.
On June 9, Korean media IS Plus reported that the Doosan Bears of the KBO are on the verge of signing left-handed pitcher Brandom Waddell from the Rakuten Monkeys of the CPBL.
According to the article, the Doosan Bears also considered other pitchers playing in the MLB system as potential candidates but ultimately decided to go with Brandon Waddell, who played for the Bears in the 2022 KBO season. The Bears have reportedly entered preliminary contract negotiations with Waddell and will make the official announcement once the transfer deal is finalised.
As per CPBL columnist Wang Yi-Hsuan, the Doosan Bears paid the Rakuten Monkeys around 100,000 USD to buy out Brandon Waddell’s CPBL contract. The Monkeys are currently in the process of finding a new foreign pitcher.
As of today, Brandon Waddell has started ten games for the Rakuten Monkeys in the CPBL. He posted a 2.85 ERA and 1.27 WHIP over 60 innings.
Further Readings
Foreign players comes and goes, therefore we compiled a foreign players tracker to keep track of all the foreign players signing for the 2023 CPBL season.
Maybe the Monkeys can use the $100,000 from Doosan to buy the rights to Ariel Miranda from Saltillo. Miranda is leading the Mexican League in strikeouts by a healthy margin. There appear to be lot of good CPBL prospects in the Mexican League this year: Jake Thompson, Nivaldo Rodriguez, Ricardo Pinto, Gabriel Ynoa, Joe Van Meter, Ronnie Williams and Luis Escobar are all pitching well in Mexico right now and have MLB and/or Asian Majors experience.
I wonder how many players would come from the Mexican League this year as mid-season signings, because the Dragons manager told the media, apparently LMB added a new rule this year, it makes it harder for team to buy out their players (assuming higher buyout price?). Maybe it’s the Atlantic League’s turn to shine once again? So, far, the Monkeys, Brothers and Dragons all need two foreign pitchers ASAP.