CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #332
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TSG Hawks News: Shōtarō Kasahara
On June 8, the TSG Hawks have released Kasahara Shōtarō (笠原祥太郎). The 29-year-old Japanese left-hander finished his 2024 CPBL season with a 3.18 ERA and 1.53 WHIP, 13 strikeouts and 10 walks over 17 innings.
According to the team, Kasahara Shōtarō will get an opportunity to say goodbye to his teammates, coaching staff and fans at the Hawks home game on June 10 before returning to Japan.
Kasahara Shōtarō started the season strong. He pitched 6 scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk in his CPBL debut against the Fubon Guardians. However, his command issues began to appear in his next two starts. He was eventually sent down to the minor league in late April due to shoulder discomfort.
After being sidelined for a month, Kasahara Shōtarō appeared in two rehab games in the minor league in late May, but with disappointing results. In over 4.2 innings, he issued 7 walks and compiled a 15.43 ERA and 3.43 WHIP. This ultimately led to the Hawks’ decision to release Kasahara Shōtarō and to make room on its active roster for foreign players.
With the release of Kasahara Shōtarō, as of today, the TSG Hawks currently have Kento Onodera, Nick Margevicius, Steven Moya, Reymin Guduan and Bradin Hagens as their foreign players.
Further Readings
Foreign players come and go. Therefore, we have compiled a tracker to monitor all foreign player signings for the 2024 CPBL season.
The best Mexican League prospects don’t look to be readily available at this moment, as they play for better playing, wealthier teams. One possibility is Australian Lewis Thorpe, who is 28 and has MLB major league experience. He’s playing for a bottom-of-the-standings team.
Along with Christian Capuano and Joey Matulovic, another 26 year old Independent-A pitcher I like is lefty Cole Cook. He’s pitched well in the Frontier League since 2022. Any of these three would likely jump at the chance to pitch for $12K a month at CPBL’s minor league level to see if they have anything.