CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #105

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Fubon Guardians News: Bryan Woodall

On December 13, the Fubon Guardians told the media that they are going to invite Bryan Woodall to participate in the 2020 spring training. The former Guardians’ right-hander will compete with others in a tryout as the Guardians’ fourth foreign player.

The 33-year-old Bryan Woodall was one of the most consistent foreign pitchers in the CPBL from 2015-2018. However, he struggled in 2019 and was eventually released by the Guardians prior to the August 31 trade deadline. Woodall posted a disappointing 5.48 ERA and 1.40 WHIP over 113.1 innings.

Mike Loree Re-Signing Update

According to the Guardians, they are very close to re-sign Mike Loree for the 2020 season. Should Loree returns in 2020, it will be his eighth season in Taiwan’s CPBL.

Guardians Eyeing New Triple-A Pitcher

It would appear, the Fubon Guardians are now in the market for a new foreign pitcher. The Guardians’ vice-general manager told SET News that they are targeting several pitchers in the Triple-A and hope to finalise the contract before the end of December.

The new yet to be named pitcher will join Mike Loree and Henry Sosa as the three primary foreign pitchers in the first-team.


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 2020 CPBL season.

5 COMMENTS

  1. Here are some 2019 Caribbean Winter League pitchers who look like potential CPBL prospects:

    Justin Nicolino (age 28 in 2020): 3.34 ERA; 26 K in 29.2 IP; 1.18 WHIP.

    Mitch Lambson (29): 3.91 ERA; 49 K in 50.2 IP; 1.24 WHIP.

    Dave Kubiak (30): 2.81 ERA; 52 K in 51.1 IP; 1.15 WHIP. Kubiak has already pitched in the CPBL and apparently didn’t impress anyone, but he might be ready for a return.

    Forrest Snow (31): 2.76 ERA; 37 K in 45.2 IP; 1.14 WHIP.

    Andre Rienzo (31): 4.10 ERA; 58 K in 59.1 IP; 1.28 WHIP. Rienzo is a Brazilian with MLB major league experience. He’s been pitching in Mexican League the last two seasons, but might be willing to try CPBL.

    Joe Van Meter (31): 2.22 ERA; 50 K in 56.2 IP; 0.99 WHIP.

    Mike Kickham (31): 1.96 ERA; 32 K in 36.1 IP; 1.06 WHIP. Kickham has major league experience but could be hurt, as he hasn’t pitched since November 19, following seven great Mexican Pacific League starts.

    Esmil Rogers (34): 2.00 ERA; 37 K in 45 IP; 0.93 WHIP. Rogers has significant major league experience and had good success in the KBO over parts of three seasons, so he may be willing to pitch in Asia again.

    Mitch Atkins (34): 2.61 ERA; 36 K in 58.2 IP; 1.09 WHIP. Atkins has major league experience. Atkins, Lambson and Van Meter all pitched extremely well in the Atlantic League in 2019.

    Ubaldo Jimenez (36): 3.03 ERA; 27 K in 29.2 IP; 1.35 WHIP. Once a big-time major league star, Jimenez hadn’t pitched professionally since the summer of 2017 before pitching in his native Dominican Republic this winter. He hasn’t pitched since November 29, so there’s some question about his ability to pitch regularly going forward.

    All ten of these pitchers is pitching in Mexico or the Dominican Republic this winter. The Venezuelan Winter League is poor this season, with the U.S. banning MLB system players from participating. The Puerto Rico Winter League has played abbreviated schedule since the big hurricane in 2017.

    The most promising Puerto Rican winter league pitchers for CPBL purposes so far are:

    Eric Stout (27): 0.98 ERA; 24 K in 18.1 IP; 0.93 WHIP

    Giovanni Soto (29): 1.21 ERA; 21 K in 29.2 IP; 1.18 WHIP

    Hector Santiago (32): 0.31 ERA; 26 K in 29 IP; 0.79 WHIP. Santiago pitched in the major leagues in 2019 and has extensive major league experience, so he’ll probably get an MLB minor league contract given how well he’s pitching in Puerto Rico.

    • Great list as always. One thing I like about offseason is to speculate the next season potential foreign players. Esmil Rogers could be a good option.

      I also have Donn Roach (29) on my radar. He certainly fits the profile of what CPBL teams are looking for, MLB experience, done time in NPB and KBO and spent 2019 in Triple-A.

      Another guy would be Christian Friedrich, the Uni-Lions were supposed to sign him mid-season but they were too slow and lost him to the NC Dinos.

      There’s also Felix Doubront. If nothing go wrong, I think he will come to CPBL this year.

      Another former CPBL guy, Dustin Crenshaw is going well in the Mexican Winter League too.

      I’m sure there will be more former KBO guys that could also be on the radar too. Might be worth spend a bit on Brooks Raley who did not re-sign with the Busan Giants (If no MLB contact).

      We might see a lot of new faces in the 2020 season. The latest rumour, the Uni-Lions and Brothers are only interested to re-sign Josh Roenicke and Mitch Lively for 2020 season.

      • Matt Gage looks like the best Mexican Summer League possibility for the CPBL in 2020. Felix Doubront is definitely a possibility — he’s pitching in Venezuela this winter. I would guess the CPBL scouts are limiting themselves to Mexico, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, given that there are more prospects there to scout and Venezuela is downright dangerous to travel around in.

        Who CPBL teams actually sign usually comes down to what players are still unsigned by MLB organizations come early/mid January.

        • Yeah I think so. Unless the CPBL teams decide to bump up foreign player salary to the next level they pretty much have to wait until the MLB are done with their picking.

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