Coming into the 2022 season with 289 career home runs tied with Weichuan Dragons hitting coach Taishan Chang for the most career home runs in CPBL history, Ngayaw Ake belted one to deep left bleacher in the 5th inning to make himself the sole Home Run King in Taiwan.
TAINAN, Taiwan -- In his first game wearing the Weichuan Dragons uniform after signing a one-year deal with the club to extend his 18-year playing career during the off season, Ngayaw Ake (Lin, Chih-Sheng) wasted no time to drive a pitch from Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions reliever Ching-Ming Wang into the deep left bleacher for his 290th career home run in Sunday's play in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The landmark long ball cemented Ngayaw Ake’s place in Taiwan baseball history as the sole Home Run King.
Forty-year-old
Ngayaw Ake, a native of Taitung and drafted first
overall in the service-training draft in 2003, made his professional debut in
2004 with the La New Bears
(now Rakuten Monkeys). He quickly showed his power at
the plate as he collected 27 home runs in his first two seasons with the Bears and ranked fourth among
all players during that time.
During his 12 seasons (’04-’15) with the
Bears/Monkeys, Ngayaw Ake led the league with home runs three times (’09,
’10 and ’12) and his 207 homeruns still ranks first in La New/Lamigo
franchise history. He was also named Taiwan Series MVP twice (’12 and ’15).
In 2016 Ngayaw Ake became the first player
in CPBL history to successfully switch teams by filing Free
Agency, signing a three-year blockbuster contract with CTBC Brothers to become
the highest-ever paid player in CPBL history. In his first season with the
Brothers, he hit career-high 36 home runs while winning the All-Star Homerun Derby
for the third time in his career (’09, ’15 and ’16).
During 2020 and 2021 Ngayaw Ake did not see
much playing time due to
injuries. However, in the final game of 2021 season, in
which he appeared in a career-low 33 games, he belted a grand-slam to tie the CPBL all-time
homerun record at 289 held by former Dragons/Bulls/Lions player and current
Dragons coach Taishan Chang and became the co-leader of the CPBL
career home run record.
Ngayaw Ake stated during the pre-game
coverage regarding his next home run that would put him ahead of Chang and
became the all-time leader: “As long as I can get it done, I don’t really
anticipate myself to do it at any certain game.”
Chang, now hitting coach of the Dragons, offered his congratulations to Ngayaw
Ake and encouraged him
to keep pushing the record forward: “Let’s get
that 300th now!”
The Dragons opened their 2022 season by
visiting the Lions in Tainan. Lions starter Tzu-Chien Shih was hit hard by the
Dragons offense and gave up nine runs (six earned) in two 2/3
innings. Dragons starter Jake Brigham went five innings while giving up two runs (one earned) to bag his first win of the season as the Dragons defeated
the Lions 11-3. The win also ended the Dragons’ losing streak against the Lions in
Tainan Stadium as they were winless in Tainan in 2021.
With both Brothers and Lions completed their opening weekend, the Fubon Guardians and Rakuten Monkeys will also play their first games at home during the opening week. The Dragons won’t return home for their opener until the 15th of April after spending their first two weeks on the road.
