CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #304
TSG Hawks News: Kento Onodera
On December 17, after the 2023 Asia Winter Baseball League had concluded, the TSG Hawks announced that they had offered a new contract to Kento Onodera (小野寺賢人) for the 2024 CPBL season.
Kento Onodera, the 25-year-old Japanese right-hander, was signed by the Hawks back in November to compete in the 2023 CPBL Winter League. In over four outings, he started three games and posted a dominating 0.92 ERA and 0.81 WHIP with 15 strikeouts and 3 walks over 19.2 innings.
It is worth noting that at the final start of the 2023 winter league, Onodera allowed one run over 8.2 innings while facing Team NPB Red, which comprised quite a few top prospects in the NPB farm system.
“Knowing my opponents (NPB Red) were all Japanese professional baseball players, it lighted a fire within me and made me want to pitch even better,” said Kento Onodera to TSNA. “Thank the Hawks for giving me the precious opportunity to play in Taiwan, and I will make an effort to learn Mandarin for the upcoming 2024 CPBL season.”
Kento Onodera’s 2023 Winter League Stats
- Vs CPBL – 6IP, 1ER, 4K, 1BB
- Vs Taiwan U-23 – 1IP, 0ER, 1K, 0BB
- Vs Japan’s JABA All-Star – 4IP, 0ER, 5K, 1BB
- Vs NPB Red – 8.2IP, 1ER, 5K, 1BB
Further Readings
Foreign players come and go. Therefore, we have compiled a tracker to monitor all foreign player signings for the 2024 CPBL season.
What Japanese player has had the most success in the CPBL? I know that a number of Japanese players have played in Taiwan, but I am not aware of any of them having success for more than a year or two.
Off top of my head is probably Hisanobu Watanabe, who is now the Seibu Lions’ GM. He came to Taiwan to play in the TML from 1999 to 2001 after finishing his 15-year career in Japan’s NPB. He pretty much dominated the league in his first two seasons in Taiwan.
1999 – 2.34 ERA, 201K, 207.2 innings (TML pitching triple crown)
2000 – 2.47 ERA, 169K, 203.2 innings
2021 – 3.65 ERA, 80K, 86.1 innings.