Taiwan, which is considered one of the top three Asian baseball teams along with Korea and Japan, has confirmed the roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), which will be held in March.
On the 6th, the Taiwan national team, led by head coach Lin Yue-bing, unveiled the final 30 players for the WBC national team, consisting of 23 Taiwanese professional baseball players and 7 foreign players.
The player with the most solid career is right-handed pitcher Song Zhao of the Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Japanese professional baseball team. He is a quality bullpen pitcher who pitched in 54 games last year and recorded 4 wins, 2 losses, 20 holds, and an ERA of 2.61. He has a career record of 248 games in Japanese professional baseball, 16 wins, 12 losses, 7 saves, 87 holds, and an earned run average of 2.96.
Wunenting (Seibu Lions) is an infielder who played in 130 games in 2021 and 94 last year in Japanese professional baseball. He has the advantage of being able to play any position in the infield. Outfielder Wang Bo-rung (Nippon Ham Fighters), who has not yet established himself in Japan, was also selected for the WBC national team. He advanced to Japan after exceeding the batting average of 40% in two consecutive seasons (2016 and 2017) in the Taiwan league.
Among players from American professional baseball, infielder Jang Wi-jeong stands out. Last year, he played 69 major league (MLB) 안전놀이터games while wandering the Cleveland Guardians, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, and Boston Red Sox. After he was released from Boston, he has yet to find a team, but he decided to join the WBC national team.
Pitcher Deng Gaiwei in the minor leagues under the San Francisco Giants, infielder Chung Zongje in the minor leagues under the Pittsburgh, and Lin Ziwei, an infielder in the minor leagues under the New York Mets, will also compete in the WBC.
The player most familiar to Korean baseball fans is pitcher Wang Wei-zhong (Weiquan Dragons). He pitched in 25 games for the NC Dinos in the KBO League in 2018, posting a record of 7-10 and an ERA of 4.26. He has experience on the MLB mound with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2017 and the Oakland Athletics in 2019.
Taiwan is in Group A with the Netherlands, Cuba, Italy and Panama, and will play the first round of the WBC at home. The first and second place in Group A will face off against the top two teams in Group B, which includes Korea, Japan, Australia, the Czech Republic and China, in the quarterfinals. Group B matches and quarterfinals will be held in Tokyo, Japan.