There is a new foreign baseball team in town this winter. Meet the Asian Islanders, a baseball team that consists of players from Japan, Korea, the USA, Venezuela, Finland, Belgium as well as several former professional players.
- Shogo Nakashima: Former NPB of the Tokyo Swallows
- Katsushi Nakamichi: Former NPB of the Orix Buffaloes
- Jose M Dieses: Former NPB Academy of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp (Academy)
- Yeo Seung-Choi: Former KBO of the Hanwha Eagles
- Park Gun-Man: Former KBO of the Nexen Heroes
Seeking Opportunities Playing in Taiwan
Led by head coach Toma Irokawa, who has plenty of international coaching experience working with the Irani, Pakistani and Hong Kong national teams. The Islanders will be seeking opportunities to play baseball professionally in Taiwan this year.
The Asian Islanders have scheduled a series of 17 exhibition games against the local university, the industrial league, and two CPBL teams from 25 January to 10 February. The Islanders will be able to showcase themselves in front of CPBL scouts and representatives from semi-pro Industrial League teams in order to earn themselves contracts for the 2018 season.
Footrans: The Company Behind the Asian Islanders
CPBL STATS have been fortunate enough to get the opportunity to talk with the Asian Islanders general manager Kotaro Nagata, who is also the owner of Footrans.
“Footrans is a Japanese sports agency that specialised in bringing Japanese players to a different baseball market outside of Japan. We want them to experience and play baseball in a different environment. In the past, we have consulted amateur baseball and football teams in Europe.”
“This is the first time for us to have assembled a team from the beginning. For the source of players, we advertised in Europe, Asia, Australia and USA last year. At the same time, we have been to many NPB and Independent Leagues try-outs in Japan,” said Kotaro Nagata, the general manager of the Asian Islanders.
Asian Islanders 2018 Schedule
| Date | Stadium | Time | VS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25-Jan | Taidung Stadium #1 | 13:00 | Chii-Lih Coral |
| 26-Jan | Taidung Stadium #1 | 13:00 | Chii-Lih Coral |
| 27-Jan | Taidung Stadium #1 | 13:00 | Taidung University |
| 28-Jan | Taidung Stadium #1 | 13:00 | Taidung University |
| 29-Jan | Taidung Stadium #1 | 13:00 | Taidung High School |
| 30-Jan | Taidung Stadium #1 | 13:00 | Taidung High School |
| 31-Jan | Taidung Stadium #1 | 13:00 | Chii-Lih Coral |
| 1-Feb | Taidung Stadium #1 | 13:00 | Chii-Lih Coral |
| 2-Feb | Taidung Stadium #1 | 13:00 | Taidung High School |
| 3-Feb | Taidung Stadium #1 | 9:00 | Chii-Lih Coral |
| 4-Feb | Pingtung Linluo | 13:00 | Meiho University |
| 5-Feb | Pingtung Linluo | 13:00 | Meiho University |
| 6-Feb | TBA | 13:00 | Fubon Guardians |
| 7-Feb | Pingtung Stadium | 13:00 | Lamigo Monkeys |
| 8-Feb | Pingtung Stadium | 13:00 | Lamigo Monkeys |
| 9-Feb | Pingtung Stadium | 13:00 | Pingtung High School |
| 10-Feb | TBA | 13:00 | Fubon Guardians |
[C.CR]
Interesting team. I hope it works out for them.
Getting CPBL contracts might be a little hard due to the timing, but there’s a chance for getting into Industrial League teams. And there are a few cases of foreign players jump from Industrial League teams to CPBL.