CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #268
Wei Chuan Dragons News: Tim Melville
Big Bowl is back, but now as a Dragons!
On February 8, the Wei Chuan Dragons announced the signing of Tim Melville as their fourth foreign player for the 2023 CPBL season.
After taking the entire 2022 off to tend to his injury, the 33-year-old American right-hander is set to return to Taiwan for his third season in the CPBL. According to the Dragons, Tim Melville is expected to report to the team in March.
According to the Wei Chuan Dragons’ GM, Tim Melville was dealing with elbow inflammation at the end of the 2021 season. He did not undergo surgery but received PRP treatment. As of today, he has had a few bullpen and Live BP sessions already.
“We will evaluate his condition when he is in Taiwan,” said the Dragons GM. “He is our fourth foreign pitcher, and given his past injury, we will give him more time for adjustment.”
Strong #CPBL debut by the Uni-Lions' Tim Melville as he cruised through 6 scoreless innings with 7 strikeouts. #CPBL pic.twitter.com/9PPE4rWYxy
— CPBL STATS – ♥️ #95, Mina (@GOCPBL) August 24, 2020
Tim Melville began his CPBL career in 2020 with the Uni-Lions as a mid-season signing, where he posted a solid 2.93 ERA and 1.34 WHIP over 61.1 innings of work.
During the 2020 Taiwan Series, in Game Six, facing elimination, Tim Melville went out there and tossed a one-run ball game over seven strong innings to help the Uni-Lions to tie the series and force Game Seven.
With his strong performance during the 2020 regular season and in the Taiwan Series, the Uni-Lions re-signed Tim Melville for the 2021 season.
Although not as consistent as his previous season, he still managed to finish the 2021 season with a 3.74 ERA and 1.36 WHIP across 122.2 innings.
Uni-Lions' Tim Melville delivers 6 strong innings, surrendering just 1 unearned run on 4 hits and striking out 8. #CPBL 🍜🔥 pic.twitter.com/Tq3DgjCOrf
— CPBL STATS – ♥️ #95, Mina (@GOCPBL) October 7, 2020
11th No-Hitter in CPBL History
Tim Melville is perhaps best known by Taiwanese baseball fans for throwing the 11th no-hitter in CPBL history in 2021 against the Wei Chuan Dragons, which coincidentally is now his new employer. Melville pitched a total of 142 pitches and struck out ten in the process to earn himself a spot in the CPBL history book.
Unfortunately, after his 142-pitch no-hitter, Tim Melville was never the same pitcher, he was in and out of the injured list, and his velocity dropped quite significantly. At the end of the 2021 season, the Uni-Lions decided not to bring him back for the 2022 season.
As of today, the Wei Chuan Dragons have Jake Brigham, Drew Gagnon, Bryan Woodall and Tim Melville as their foreign players.
NO-HITTER!!! After 142 pitches, the Uni-Lions Tim Melville recorded the final out and became the 11th player to throw a no-hitter in the #CPBL history.
Melville's final line: 9.0IP, 0H, 0R, 10SO, 5BB. 🥳🎉 pic.twitter.com/BLoESQitIS
— CPBL STATS – ♥️ #95, Mina (@GOCPBL) April 2, 2021
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.