CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #377
CTBC Brothers News: Mario Sanchez
On 4 March, Liberty Sports reported that the CTBC Brothers have signed Mario Sanchez for the 2025 CPBL season on a guaranteed two-year deal worth over 1 million USD.
The 30-year-old Venezuelan right-hander will return for his third season in Taiwan, this time with a new CPBL team. Mario Sanchez previously pitched for the Uni-Lions in 2023 and 2024.
Uni-Lions’ Mario Sanchez allowed 1 run and struck out 8 over 7 innings. #CPBL pic.twitter.com/i0U9ZHHfZ0
— CPBL STATS 🪬🔮 (@GOCPBL) April 10, 2024
Offseason Bidding War Among 4 CPBL Teams
According to TSNA, the Uni-Lions initially offered Mario Sanchez a two-year contract worth 900,000 USD in hopes of re-signing him for 2025. However, he turned it down as he was still seeking an opportunity to return to the MLB system at the time.
Shortly after the Uni-Lions’ exclusive negotiation rights expired on 28 February, Mario Sanchez received offers from the CTBC Brothers, Fubon Guardians, and Wei Chuan Dragons, with the Brothers ultimately making the best offer.
2024 #CPBL All-Star Game
Mario Sanchez makes an incredible no-look, behind-the-back catch on a comebacker. pic.twitter.com/exGKegyrmi
— CPBL STATS 🪬🔮 (@GOCPBL) July 21, 2024
Stellar 2024 CPBL Season
Although Mario Sanchez was not as dominant as his god-like performance in 2023 (1.44 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 62.2 innings), he still delivered an outstanding 2024 campaign for the Uni-Lions. He posted a stellar 2.49 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over 159.1 innings, leading the CPBL in strikeouts (167), innings pitched (159.1), and wins (14). His performance earned him a spot as one of the finalists for the 2024 CPBL MVP Award.
During the 2024 CPBL Postseason, Mario Sanchez started Game 3 of the Playoff Series, pitching 6.1 innings and allowing five runs against the Rakuten Monkeys.
In the Taiwan Series, Mario Sanchez started twice against the CTBC Brothers, logging a total of 11 innings. In Game 2, he allowed three runs over 5.2 innings. In Game 5, he went 5.1 innings, again conceding three runs.
Following the 2024 CPBL season, Mario Sanchez represented Team Venezuela in the WBSC Premier12 Tournament. He faced Team USA twice, recording a 3.12 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, and 12 strikeouts over 8.2 innings.
CTBC Brothers Eyeing Nivaldo Rodriguez?
With the signing of Mario Sanchez, the CTBC Brothers now have Kirk McCarty, José De Paula, Daniel Mengden and Humberto Castellanos as their foreign players.
As per ETtoday, the CTBC Brothers are reportedly targeting Nivaldo Rodriguez, who played for the Guardians in 2024, as a potential candidate for the 2025 CPBL season.
CPBL’s 831 Deadline & 228 Clause Explained
As per CPBL regulations, all teams must finalise their 4-man foreign player roster by the August 31 trade deadline (831 Deadline). After this deadline, teams retain exclusive negotiation rights over their foreign players until February 28 of the following year (228 Clause).
Under the 228 Clause, unless the team holding the negotiation rights grants permission, other CPBL teams are prohibited from contacting those foreign players until March 1.
However, if a foreign player is released before August 31, the 228 Clause no longer applies. This allows other CPBL teams to freely contact and sign him for the following season without any restrictions.
Further Readings
Foreign players come and go. Therefore, we have compiled a foreign player tracker, and I’ll be updating that list regularly to keep pace with the ever-changing roster shuffle throughout the 2025 CPBL season.