CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #376
Fubon Guardians News: Rio Gomez
On March 4, Liberty Sports reported that the Fubon Guardians have signed Rio Gomez for the 2025 CPBL season. The 30-year-old American left-hander is set to return to Taiwan for his second season in the league, this time as a member of the Fubon Guardians.
Wei Chuan Dragons’ Rio Gomez pitched a scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts. #CPBL pic.twitter.com/0nGX6ylbmS
— CPBL STATS 🪬🔮 (@GOCPBL) May 10, 2024
Rio Gomez, who primarily pitched as a reliever for the Wei Chuan Dragons in 2024, delivered an outstanding season, posting a 1.17 ERA and 0.78 WHIP over 92.1 innings. His performance was elite across the board, with a 26.8 K%, 3.99 B%, and 28.6 Whiff%. Even more impressive was his workload, appearing in 63 of 120 games, making him one of the key pillars of the Dragons’ bullpen.
Given his dominant performance, it was no surprise that the Dragons wanted to re-sign Rio Gomez for 2025. However, negotiations proved challenging throughout the offseason.
Starter or Reliever in 2025, That Is the Question
In early February, the Dragons’ general manager revealed that the two sides had struggled to reach a consensus, primarily due to a disagreement over Rio Gomez’s role for the 2025 season.
According to multiple reports, Rio Gomez preferred the role of a starting pitcher, while the Dragons wanted him to remain in the bullpen. With both parties unable to find common ground and the Dragons’ negotiation rights period expiring on February 28, the Fubon Guardians swooped in and secured Gomez’s signature.
“We didn’t specifically include a “starter-only” clause in Rio Gomez’s contract. However, he personally expressed a strong desire to be a starting pitcher, and after evaluation, our coaching staff agreed with this arrangement, and we acted immediately after February 28,” the Guardians GM told Liberty Sports.
“I wish him all the best in his future career with the Guardians. I can understand Rio Gomez’s persistence in being a starting pitcher. He mentioned last year that he wanted to be a starter because it would give him a better chance to be noticed by NPB and KBO teams,” said the Dragons’ pitching coach to Liberty Sports.
Wei Chuan Dragons’ foreign pitcher Rio Gomez showed off his new Taiwan-themed tattoo to UDN today. The tattoo features Doraemon opening an Anywhere Door to Taipei 101 and CKS Memorial Hall. #CPBL pic.twitter.com/dXJ0LicYBc
— CPBL STATS 🪬🔮 (@GOCPBL) August 16, 2024
Rio Gomez Currently Playing in 2025 WBC Qualifiers
At the time of writing this blog post, Rio Gomez is currently playing for Team Colombia in the 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers. Gomez started against China and tossed three innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out six.
With the signing of Rio Gomez, the Fubon Guardians now have Roenis Elías, Shawn Morimando and Enderson Franco as their foreign players. The Guardians GM revealed that they are currently reviewing Julio Teherán as a potential candidate, but nothing is set in stone at this stage.
CPBL’s 831 Deadline & 228 Clause Explained
As per CPBL regulations, all teams must finalise their 4-man foreign player roster by the August 31 trade deadline (831 Deadline). After this deadline, teams retain exclusive negotiation rights over their foreign players until February 28 of the following year (228 Clause).
Under the 228 Clause, unless the team holding the negotiation rights grants permission, other CPBL teams are prohibited from contacting those foreign players until March 1.
However, if a foreign player is released before August 31, the 228 Clause no longer applies. This allows other CPBL teams to freely contact and sign him for the following season without any restrictions.
Further Readings
Foreign players come and go. Therefore, we have compiled a foreign player tracker, and I’ll be updating that list regularly to keep pace with the ever-changing roster shuffle throughout the 2025 CPBL season.