The rumours were true! Fubon Guardians have announced the signing of hitting coach Tommy Cruz (Cirilo Cruz) and farm team manager 陳連宏 (Chen Lien-Hung) today.
“It’s our honour to have new coaches to join the Fubon family, and I hope they can continue to assist our players in their development” Said Guardians GM 蔡承儒 (Chris Tsai)
Tommy Cruz – Hitting Coach
The former Chinatrust Brothers hitting coach Tommy Cruz will take on the role of guest-hitting coach for Guardians 1st team. Cruz is expect to join the team on the 25th January and will stay until the end of April.
From May to the end of August. Cruz will be working as the hitting coach for the Taiwanese junior national team in preparation for 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
Chen Lien-Hung – Farm team manager
After leaving the Uni-Lions organisation at the end of 2016 season. The former Uni-Lions skipper spent 2017 season working for the San Diego Padres as a coach within their minor league system.
With this recent signing, Chen will now be working closely with his younger brother, the Taiwanese baseball demigod 陳金鋒 (Chen Chin-Feng), who join Guardians as their vice GM back in 2017.
“Really want to thank Fubon for giving me this opportunity. And I’ll do everything I can to help the young players to discover their potential” Said the newly appointed farm team manager Chen Lien-Hung.
Chen Lien-Hung had a 15 years of professional career in CPBL from 1997 to 2011, where he posted a solid career stats of .299/.392/.450. After retiring as a player, Chen took on the coaching role within the Lions organisation from 2012 to 2016.
Other signing and coaching movement
- 陳柏穎 (Chen Po-Ying) – Signed as farm team conditioning coach.
- 陳威志 (Chen Wei-Chih) – 2017 defense coach will join the Guardians scouts team.
- 許國隆 (Hsu Kuo-Lung) – 2017 farm team manager will become farm team hitting coach.