CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #281
Uni-Lions News: Mario Sanchez
Just a few days after winning the 2023 first-half season championship, the Uni-Lions have lost their ace, Mario Sanchez, to the KBO.
On July 2, the Uni-Lions’ general manager revealed that the KIA Tigers have purchased Mario Sanchez’s contract from the Uni-Lions. The 28-year-old Venezuelan right-hander is set to leave Taiwan in the next few days and report to his new team in Korea.
“We knew that KBO scouts were in Taiwan about a week ago to watch Mario Sanchez,” said the Uni-Lions manager. “We wish him all the best in the future.”
Uni-Lions Mario Sanchez allowed 1 run and struck out 11 over 6.2 strong innings. đ #CPBL pic.twitter.com/AwN4ytBOH9
— CPBL STATS – âĽď¸ #95, Mina (@GOCPBL) June 3, 2023
Earlier today, the Uni-Lions held a mini farewell ceremony for Mario Sanchez and gave him a 2023 half-season championship t-shirt signed by the entire team.
“I feel grateful for being on a half-season championship team,” said Mario Sanchez in an interview with WeAre. “I’ve got great teammates and coaches, and I’m just grateful for what we have been through.”
Mario Sanchez told UDN that he believes the Uni-Lions have what it takes to win the 2023 Taiwan Series and will miss his teammates in the CPBL.
With Mario Sanchez leaving for the KBO, the Uni-Lions general manager told the media that they have already started looking for a new foreign pitcher. At this stage, there are three potential candidates. They hope to finalise everything before July 14, the starting date of the 2023 second-half season.
Mario Sanchez finished his 2023 CPBL season with a solid 1.44 ERA and 0.93 WHIP over 62.2 innings of work.
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.
I thought the Uni-Lions made a good move signing Sanchez, and I was hoping he’d pitch well for them. I didn’t expect he’d pitch so well that a KBO team would come for him after half a season. Sanchez is still young, so the odds are good he will eventually return to the CPBL. Of course, the odds are great that at any give time multiple current foreign KBO pitchers will pitch in the CPBL at some point in the future.
Uni-Lions struck gold with this Mario Sanchez signing. I think at first, they were going to use him as the 4th backup pitcher.