Chinese Taipei announce WBSC XXXI U-18 Baseball World Cup roster
TAIPEI, Taiwan | After a training camp opened in late July, the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) announced its final 20-player roster for the upcoming XXXI WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup.
Three first-round selections of the latest Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) Draft highlight the group of eight pitchers, two catchers, six infielders, and four outfielders.
The three CPBL Draft first-round picks are Guardians infielder Nien-Hao Wang (second overall), Lions outfielder Chia-Wei Lin (third overall), and Monkeys’ outfielder Shin Chiu (fifth overall).
Liam Wilson (Hamilton High School, Arizona), made the team as one of the two catchers on the roster. He is the son of Steve Wilson, a left-handed Canadian who competed in the Taiwan Major League in the mid-1990s after pitching part of six MLB seasons and participating in the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics demonstration tournament.
Chinese Taipei started the selection process after completing the E-Sun Cup Tournament in June, choosing 24 players from the initial 36-strong provincial roster. The final 20-player roster came after a one-month training camp.
En-Sheng Lin, who starred in the XXX WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup as a 17-year-old, was unavailable, having signed as an international free agent for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB) earlier this year, receiving a US$1.3 million signing bonus.
According to manager Po-Hung Wu: “We had to leave En-Sheng Lin out of the roster since we are unable to get the approval from the Reds for Lin to participate in this tournament as a pitcher.”
The Longball and Heat
Po-Hung Wu is quite proud of his team's potential. "We have great slugging potential. I've got a power hitter or two at every position, but I need to consider their defensive performance, so I may not be able to have a sluggish team from the leadoff guy to the end of the lineup."
"As far as the pitching is going," he added, "they have good velocity. Some of them can throw in the mid-90s consistently. I will still focus on the very basic, which is control. Throwing heat without control can only mean disaster for the team."
Before the official opening of the XXXI WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup, Chinese Taipei will play warm-up games with Australia (26 August), the Netherlands (28 August) and the United States (29 August) behind closed doors.
World No. 5 Chinese Taipei will open the tournament against No. 9 Australia on Thursday, 31 August, at Tianmou Stadium in Taipei City.
Chinese Taipei will then move to Taichung to face the other Group A teams, No. 3 Mexico, No. 5 Korea, No. 11 Puerto Rico and No. 16 Czechia.
