2025 CPBL Rumour Tracker: New Foreign Players
Ah yes, it’s the offseason, and all the CPBL teams are busy signing new foreign players for the 2025 season. This is also the time when we are bombarded with countless rumours about potential foreign player signings.
As always, to keep all the rumours in one place, we have set up an offseason rumour tracker for all potential 2025 signings. [Last Updated: January 21, 2025]
Note: Please take any “[online rumour]” with a grain of salt. Because at the end of the day, it’s only online rumour. Also this blog post will only focus on new foreign players.
January 21 Signing Rumours
- Rakuten Monkeys have signed Beau Sulser. [Per Jan 10 rumour]
January 16 Signing Rumours
- Wei Chuan Dragons have signed Zac Lowther. [Per Jan 6 rumour]
January 10 Signing Rumours
- A northern Taiwan CPBL team is close to finalising a deal with Beau Sulser. [Broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan]
January 7 Signing Rumours
- Uni-Lions have signed C.C. Mercedes. [Per Dec 30 rumour]
January 6 Signing Rumours
- Several CPBL teams are targeting Zac Lowther as potential foreign pitcher, with the team based in northern Taiwan as the front-runner. [Broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan]
January 4 Signing Rumours
- CTBC Brothers are targeting Humberto Castellanos as a potential foreign pitcher. [SET News]
January 4 Signing Rumours
- TSG Hawks have reached an agreement with a new foreign pitcher in his 30s who spent the 2024 season in the KBO. [TSNA]
January 3 Signing Rumours
- CTBC Brothers have reached an agreement with a new foreign pitcher. This yet-to-be-named pitcher is a young right-handed sidearm thrower who spent the 2024 season in Triple-A and has prior MLB experience. [Broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan]
- CTBC Brothers’ mysterious foreign pitcher is rumoured to be Humberto Castellanos. [Online Rumour PTT]
December 30 Signing Rumours
- Uni-Lions are currently in talks with C.C. Mercedes. [NOWNews]
December 28 Signing Rumours
- Uni-Lions have signed Yohander Méndez. [Per Dec 27 rumour]
- Uni-Lions still reviewing 3 new foreign pitcher candidates, they are hoping to cut the list down to 1. Rumour one of those 3 pitchers has NPB experience. [Liberty Sports]
December 27 Signing Rumours
- Uni-Lions have been in talks with Yohander Méndez and set to finalise the deal soon. [Broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan]
December 25 Signing Rumours
- Uni-Lions GM revealed that they nearing a deal with a new foreign pitcher. [TSNA]
- Rakuten Monkeys have signed Jonathan Bermúdez. [Per Dec 19 rumour]
December 21 Signing Rumours
- CPBL teams are unlikely to sign Robinson Canó after learning Canó is seeking for roughly 1 million USD contract. [Broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan]
December 19 Signing Rumours
- Rakuten Monkeys’ assistant GM revealed they are currently in talks with 2 new foreign pitchers. [TSNA]
December 12 Signing Rumours
- Several CPBL teams are targeting Zac Grotz, Felix Pena and Wes Benjamin. [Broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan]
- Several CPBL teams are targeting Robert Stock and Enny Romero. [Broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan]
December 11 Signing Rumours
- TSG Hawks general manager said that they are currently in talks with 2 new foreign pitchers, one of them is a left-hander. [TSNA]
December 10 Signing Rumours
- 33-year-old Dominican left-hander, Enny Romero, has reportedly received an offer from a CPBL team. [RC Noticias]
December 7 Signing Rumours
- Uni-Lions’ general manager said they are currently targeting 1-2 new foreign players. [Liberty Sports]
December 3 Signing Rumours
- Several CPBL teams are currently targeting Dietrich Enns, who pitched for the LG Twins during the 2024 KBO season. [TSNA]
December 2 Signing Rumours
- Robinson Canó has expressed interest to play in the CPBL, his agent have approached several team so far. [Broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan]
November 7 Signing Rumours
- TSG Hawks’ general manager said they will be looking for around 5-6 foreign players for the 2025 season. [ETtoday]
- USA media reported that the TSG Hawks have signed Spenser Watkins for the 2025 season. [Bob Nightengale]
October 28 Signing Rumours
- Wei Chuan Dragons manager said they currently have 2 foreign outfielders working out at their fall training camp. He did not reveal their names. One is a 32 years old with 4 years of MLB experience, while the other is 25 and currently in Single-A. [ETtoday]
- PTT netizen figured out the identities of those two foreign outfielders. Phil Ervin and Kevin Watson Jr. [Online rumour]
- Both players also attended the Uni-Lions’ fall camp for a tryout. [Broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan]
Publication of CPBL STATS’ Rumor Tracker seems like a good time to comment on my annual list of Winter League pitchers who might be good foreign pitcher options for the CPBL in 2025. I have decided to list them by age, since I know that Rob likes teams to sign younger foreign pitchers.
Max Castillo (RHP, age 26 in 2025, currently pitching in VWL). Castillo is young, has MLB major league experience and is looking for a job after a rough summer season at AAA.
Jimmy Endersby (RHP, age 27, VWL). Endersby pitched in AA last summer but has 112 AAA innings pitched under his belt. He’s young and pitching well in Venezuela this winter.
Nolan Kingham (RHP, 28, MPWL). Kingham has pitched 310+ innings in the high minors, roughly split between AA and AAA. He looks like the kind of pitcher who has had success in the CPBL in the past.
J.C. Mejia (RHP, 28, LIDOM). Mejia has MLB experience, but he’s served two PED suspension, the second one preventing him from pitching in the summer of 2024. If a CPBL team is willing to look past the two suspensions, he’d be a good option in terms of talent.
Vladimir Gutierrez (RHP, 29, LIDOM). A Cuban, Gutierrez had a strong year for the MLB Reds in 2021 and made one outing for the Marlins in 2024. He’s looking for a job, however, and is pitching well in the Dominican Republic.
Zac Lowther (LHP, 29, LIDOM). He’s one of the relatively few lefties on this list. He’s a bit wild but has good stuff, and he’s pitched in MLB.
Nabil Crismatt (RHP, 30, LIDOM). A Colombian, Crismatt has significant MLB experience, almost entirely in relief, but he made 16 AAA starts in 2024 and he’s pitching great as a starter in the Dominican Republic now. Odds are good he’ll get a contract offer from an MLB organization, but you never know.
Zach Muckenhirn (LHP, 30, MPWL). He pitched for the New York Mets briefly in 2023. He’s been used almost exclusively as a relief pitcher since he advanced from full season A ball, but he’s been an effective starter in Mexico this winter. He appears to have missed several starts recently, so he may have hurt his arm stretching out as a starter.
Ricardo Pinto (RHP, 31, VWL). Pinto has MLB and KBO experience. CPBL scouts presumably had a chance to see him pitch in the recent Premier 12 tournament (as they did with Castillo above). Pinto’s outings were both good and bad there, so it’s unknown whether CPBL people were impressed.
Cristofer Ogando (RHP, 31, VWL). Pitched briefly for the Tampa Rays in 2022 and showed good stuff pitching in the Atlantic League this summer and Venezuela this winter.
Luis Cessa (RHP, 33, MPWL) Cessa has significant MLB experience last pitching in the majors in 2023 and pitching at AAA in 2024. He’s at an age where a CBPL offer looks pretty good to him, because as a Mexican player he can probably fall back on the Mexican summer league if things didn’t work in Taiwan.
Enny Romero (LHP, 34, LIDOM). There are already rumors about Romero pitching in the CPBL in 2025. He has significant MLB and NPB experience, even though he hasn’t pitched in a summer league since 2022 due to arm problems. He’s looked great in eight LIDOM starts this winter.
Matt Dermody (LHP, 34, LIDOM). Dermody has pitched everywhere except the CPBL, and he’s a tall left-hander who could appeal to CPBL teams.
Robert Stock (RHP, 35, MPWL). Although Stock is the oldest player on this list, he’s probably my favorite as a potential 2025 CPBL pitcher. He has significant MLB experience and pitched well as a starter in the KBO in 2022. He’s averaged 152.1 IP (and counting) over the last three years, suggesting he’s got plenty left in the tank in spite of his age. Maybe he could be the next Logan Ondrusek.
Robert Stock would be a good candidate. KBO experience and able to eat innings is always a plus.
Should any CPBL team decide to sign a foreign position player, one who caught my eye based on his winter league performance is the VWL’s Renato Nunez, age 31 in 2025. Nunez hit 31 home runs for the 2019 Baltimore Orioles and had an even better season with the bat in the Covid-shortened 2020 season. He didn’t hit in the NPB majors in 2022 but had an. 895 OPS at the NPB minor league level, which is something of a comp for the CPBL.
Nunez only had 54 plate appearances in the Mexican League this summer, but has been pounding it in Venezuela this winter. He’s hit 21 HRs in 243 pro plate appearances in 2024.
I liked Vimael Machin as a possible CPBL player last year, and Machin had another very strong season in Machin. However, Machin is a high on-base percentage, high infield defense guy, and Asian teams tend to like power hitters for their foreign imports. Nunez certainly has power.
It would be very interesting to see if any teams other than the Hawks will go for a foreign bat. There’s rumour a few weeks ago that Robinson Canó is seeking CPBL opportunity.
Cano is a name player who might be good for the box office. I would expect CPBL regular season attendance to be up in 2025 after Premier 12 Championship.
Two relief pitchers I touted a year ago, Emmanuel Ramirez (31) and Silvio Bracho (32), had strong years in 2024, and both are currently unsigned if a CPBL team wants to sign a relief pitcher.
Nabil Crismatt signed with the Phillies on 12/13/24, the day I published the first comment above. Ricardo Pinto finished the VWL with an ERA over 5.00.
Recent internet research suggests that Robinson Cano could be earning as much as $300,000 playing in Mexico and the Dominican Republic in 2024, not including endorsements and perks he receives playing in those two countries. If a CPBL team were willing to guarantee him $500K or $600K, he might be willing to sign, although that’s a lot for a foreign position player.