TAIPEI, Taiwan | Hao-Ju Totoro Tseng, the former skipper of the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), will manage Chinese Taipei at the WBSC Premier12 2024, presented by RAXUS. Tseng, who was the hitting coach in the 2019 Premier12 and the 2023 World Baseball Classic, will announce his coaching staff soon.
Born in 1979, Tseng made his playing debut with La New Bears in 2004 and went .247 / .323 / .374 with 37 home runs in his 10-year professional career. After retiring in 2014, Tseng was named Monkeys minor league hitting coach and promoted to major league hitting coach in 2015. He was then named manager of the team after Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten acquired the organization in 2020.
Tseng led the Monkeys to the Taiwan Series twice and accumulated a 245-224-11 record during his four seasons at the helm. He stepped down after the 2023 season and was assigned to manage the Monkeys' minor league team.
“Every international tournament presents tremendous pressure to the manager, the coaching staff, and the team,” said Tseng when asked about being named the manager of Chinese Taipei. “But I tend to view [the assignment] as a glorious opportunity to lead the team, and I would give all my trust to all the coaching staff and the players.”
“I would like to take all the experiences from the past [when coaching the national teams] and attribute those to our future success,” added Tseng.
The Chinese Taipei selection and training committee said it reached a consensus on Tseng in less than five minutes. Charles Yang, the CPBL secretary-general, made the decision public.
“Tseng was the only candidate we ever considered,” said Yang. "We value his experiences managing and taking the [Monkeys] major league team to [multiple] Taiwan Series, in addition to his past experiences with Chinese Taipei [as hitting coach]. Being the minor league team manager also does give him more room and leverage to work on Chinese Taipei-related matters,” added Yang.
Chinese Taipei have participated in both editions of the Premier12. Their best finish was fifth place in 2019. Japan is the defending Premier12 champion. Korea won the inaugural 2015 edition.
Chinese Taipei (Group B) and the Americas (location to be announced soon, Group A) have earned hosting rights for the group stage, with Group A taking place from 10-14 November and Group B taking place from 13-18 November.
Group B will open on 13 November in the Nagoya Dome, Japan, and move to the newly built Taipei Dome from 14 to 18 November.
Super Round and Medal Games will be played in the Tokyo Dome from 21-24 November.
