CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #317
TSG Hawks News: Steven Moya
On January 24, the TSG Hawks announced the signing of Steven Moya as their foreign hitter. According to the team, the 32-year-old left-handed first baseman is set to arrive in Taiwan at the end of January.
Steven Moya began his professional career with the Detroit Tigers organisation in 2009 and was active in MLB from 2014 to 2016. During his three MLB seasons, he compiled a slash line of .250/.293/.452 over 133 plate appearances.
Between 2018 and 2021, Steven Moya was in Japan’s NPB, playing for the Chunichi Dragons and Orix Buffaloes. In four NPB seasons, he slashed .249/.286/.423 with 39 home runs across 929 plate appearances. His most notable season was in 2020, where he finished the year with a .891 OPS and a wRC+ of 151.
In 2023, Steven Moya spent the majority of the season playing for the Gastonia Honey Hunters in the Atlantic League and registered an insane .321/.435/.804 slash line over 33 games.
Prior to his signing with the TSG Hawks, Steven Moya was playing in the Mexican Winter League and registered a slash line of .215/.261/.339 in the span of 69 plate appearances.
The Hawks general manager revealed that they have been tracking Steven Moya for a while now. At some point, the team was in talks with Mel Rojas Jr, but they lost him to the KBO. Brandon Laird was another player they reviewed, but ultimately, the coaching team decided on Steven Moya.
As of today, the TSG Hawks have Shōtarō Kasahara, Kento Onodera, Nick Margevicius and Steven Moya as their foreign players for the 2024 CPBL season.
The Hawks GM told TSNA that they are currently targeting another foreign pitcher. This unnamed pitcher is a left-handed reliever with MLB experience but has never played in Asia.
Further Readings
Foreign players come and go. Therefore, we have compiled a tracker to monitor all foreign player signings for the 2024 CPBL season.
Well, signing Moya was a better decision than signing Brandon Laird, who hasn’t played anywhere since the end of the 2022 season and would now be age 36.