CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #258
Fubon Guardians News: Tyler Eppler
On January 6, the Fubon Guardians announced the signing of 30-year-old American right-hander Tyler Eppler for the 2023 CPBL season. According to the team, Tyler Eppler is set to arrive in Taiwan at the beginning of February.
Tyler Eppler started his professional career in 2014 with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ system and reached Triple-A in 2017. Over three seasons in Triple-A, he compiled a 4.91 ERA and 1.42 WHIP across 361.1 innings.
In 2019, he signed a deal with Orix Buffaloes of the NPB and finished the season with a 4.02 ERA and 1.59 WHIP over 31.1 innings. After his stint in Japan, he returned to the MLB system in 2021 and signed a minor league deal with the Washington Nationals.
Tyler Eppler went on his second tour of Asia in 2022 and joined the Kiwoom Heroes of the KBO. He logged 140.1 innings and posted a 4.43 ERA and 1.51 WHIP.
As of today, the Guardians currently have Enderson Franco and Tyler Eppler as their foreign players for the 2023 season. The team is reportedly in talks with Tanner Anderson.
Tyler Eppler Pitching Repertoire
According to KBO Taiwan Fan Club’s article on Sports Vision, Tyler Eppler throws six pitches and heavily relies on his 2-seam fastball and slider.
Last year in the KBO, he primarily used his slider as the go-to breaking pitch when facing right-handed batters (41%). When squaring up against left-handed batters, then it is the changeup (31%).
- 2-Seam Fastball / Sinker (26.4%)
- Slider (26.9%)
- Changeup (17.6%)
- 4 Seam Fastball (15.8%)
- Curveball (10.7%)
- Splitter (1.5%)
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.
Eppler doesn’t miss a lot of bats. He’s going to need good defense behind him to succeed in the CPBL because he’s likely to give up many base hits.