CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #194
Wei Chuan Dragons News: Drew Gagnon
On October 13, the Wei Chuan Dragons announced that Drew Gagnon is going to leave Taiwan and return to the USA due to family reasons. According to the team, Drew Gagnon will continue to play for the Dragons until the end of the month.
“He told us he would wait until our new foreign pitcher Daniel Corcino reports to the team before leaving,” said the Dragons manager. “Drew Gagnon is likely to start another three games for us.”
Wei Chuan Dragons Drew Gagnon gave up 1 earned run and struck out 7 across 7 strong innings. Gagnon picked up his 1st career win in the #CPBL. pic.twitter.com/Ow9XKJzkfl
— CPBL STATS ♥️ #95 (@GOCPBL) April 14, 2021
As of October 13, the 31-year-old American right-hander posted a 4.81 ERA and 1.44 WHIP over 73 innings of work in the CPBL this season. Out of his 15 total outings, 11 of those were as a starting pitcher.
Drew Gagnon was sidelined from May until August due to elbow and hand discomfort. He returned to the first team roster at the end of August and compiled a 4.70 ERA and 1.41 WHIP over 44 innings.
With Drew Gagnon leaving the Dragons, the team is left with Tazawa Junichi, Rosell Herrera, Bryan Woodall and Daniel Corcino as their foreign players on the active roster.
WHAT A PLAY!! Wei Chuan Dragons Drew Gagnon makes an incredible no-look snag on a comebacker and then tosses the ENTIRE GLOVE to 1st base for the out. That's at least a 9/10 on the SR Scale ?. #CPBL pic.twitter.com/MLkWAFleWG
— CPBL STATS ♥️ #95 (@GOCPBL) April 8, 2021
Further Readings
Foreign players come and goes, therefore we compiled a foreign players tracker to keep track of all the foreign players signing for the 2021 CPBL season.
I had high hopes for Drew Gagnon in the CPBL. His strikeout rate in the KBO last season suggested he had the stuff to succeed in the CPBL. He has pitched well enough that he could get consideration by a CPBL team to return in 2022, but if he is leaving before the season ends, that seems unlikely. At age 32 next season, his pro career could be over. However, MLB teams are often willing to take a look at players returning from the Asian majors to see if the player has learned something new playing in Asia.
I suspect it’s more like a contract thing. As in his contract is probably until the end of October, but since the league was suspended for almost 2 months due to the pandemic, there is now a gap.
Also assuming since the Dragons don’t have a chance to make the playoff, there’s not much point to keep Gagnon here if he wants to go home.
I don’t blame them for missing home though, I think they have been away from their family since February. And because of the pandemic, their family can’t travel to Taiwan.
The Dragons sort of hinted they will bring back Gagnon next year. But we will see if that’s the case sometime down the line.