CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #375
Fubon Guardians News: Enderson Franco
On February 14, the Fubon Guardians announced the re-signing of Enderson Franco for the 2025 CPBL season. The 32-year-old Venezuelan right-hander will return for his fourth season in Taiwan.
Enderson Franco, best known for his overpowering fastball, has been the pillar of the Fubon Guardians’ bullpen from 2022 to 2024. During those seasons, he appeared in 152 games as a reliever and logged 175.1 innings with 34 saves and 37 holds.
Fubon Guardians’ closer Enderson Franco escaped a bases-loaded jam by striking out Steven Moya, sealing the 2-0 win for the Guardians. 🔥 #CPBL pic.twitter.com/ZhBs6h9Un9
— CPBL STATS 🪬🔮 (@GOCPBL) May 27, 2024
However, after his dominating 2023 season, where he registered a 0.95 ERA and 0.77 WHIP over 66.1 innings, Enderson Franco was unable to replicate the same success in 2024, posting a 2.34 ERA and 1.23 WHIP across 57.2 innings.
Perhaps it was due to fatigue, but when examining Enderson Franco’s 2024 stats, it is clear to see a significant decline in several areas in the second half of the 2024 season.
- 2024 1st Half Season
- FIP 2.02
- K% 26.0
- BB% 3.1
- 2024 2nd Half Season
- FIP 2.93
- K% 19.0
- BB% 9.5
Apart from that, there is also a slight decline in his fastball velocity. Although he can still occasionally reach 160 kph, the CPBL hitters were more comfortable hitting his pitches in 2024. His fastball wOBA increased from .199 to .270
While Enderson Franco is still a fantastic reliever, at the end of the day, he is still a reliever, and with each CPBL team only limited to four foreign players on the active roster, he will have to perform above and beyond to justify the team for using a valuable foreign player slot on a reliever, instead of a starting pitcher.
With the re-signing of Enderson Franco, the Fubon Guardians now have Roenis Elías and Shawn Morimando as their foreign players.
Guardians Targeting New Foreign Pitcher
According to the Guardians’ general manager, they are in talks with a new foreign pitcher, and this yet-to-be-named pitcher is currently preparing for the upcoming 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers.
Nivaldo Rodriguez Update
As per CPBL broadcaster Wang Yi-Hsuan, the Guardians’ talks with Nivaldo Rodriguez have been halted. Apparently, Nivaldo Rodriguez currently has multiple minor league offers with a spring training invite. There are also two NPB teams that have expressed interest in signing him for the 2025 season.
The local media reported that the Guardians have already offered Nivaldo Rodriguez a deal worth 600,000 USD.
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.