I guess I’m thinking from an ML perspective. You’re def right TW is not longer that imbalanced, but pitching still far ahead of their hitting ability.
From a prospect level the overwhelming majority of prospects are still pitchers. There has yet to e an impact offensive player at the ML level.
Re: pitchers …still far more players that project to throw 90 plus and have command than there are hitters with any realistic chance to make an impact at higher levels of pro ball.
It exists already but tw hs players are de facto pros and they would rather have a top name school on the resume even If it means they get little or no meaningful game time.
Theres too much $ behind the big schools to change that. Caps on roster sizes to distribute the talent more evenly or fewer spots for players outside their own country are the obvious solution but that wont happen.
Edit:should read defacto pros
I’d assume some of you guys played travel ball growing up. We played about 120 games every summer. Our teams would destroy these WBCS teams. Hell, my high school travel team would be very competitive in Taiwan pro league. I remember taking my dad to a game here. About a half inning in he said, “These guys really suck. I can’t believe how many simple, foolish mistakes they make.”. He was right.
Bullshit
Guys from the CPBL have gone back to MLB to play. Remember Jerome Willians, who returned to Anaheim’s starting rotation after a Uni Lions stint? Nelson Figueroa pitched in relief for the Mets.
Your HS had guys throwing 95 in it and former MLB players, guys that played to AAA? Pitchers with complete mixes and three pitches sitting in the high 80s?
I think you are confused as to what travel baseball is. Our high school-aged team (not high school team) had some of the best players from five states and we traveled around the country playing the best teams. Our team had a son of one of the greatest baseball players ever, and he, along with a couple of kids that had wealthy parents, financed everything. Every year we got all new equipment, multiple uniforms and pitching machines thanks to them and we never paid a cent for trips that required flying. In the off-season we had private camps with coaches from some of the biggest universities. We had three guys that pitched in the 90s. I’m sure a Taiwan all-star team would destroy us, but I’m quite sure we would have been competitive with the average pro team here.
I think you’re underestimating the difference in ability between HS age players vs experienced professional players, and likely romanticizing your past playing days.
Most of the foreign players in the CPBL made the majors at some point, and if not AAA. The majority of position players either signed minor league deals or had the ability to but opted to remain in Asia for contract purposes.
Very few top tier TW pitchers from HS could step into a CBPL lineup right away and contribute, and those kids are every bit as good as their US counterparts for the most part
The level of play in the CPBL can get crappy but that’s not due to a lack of talent in a lot of cases, let’s leave it at that.
but this is like the cream of the crop, right?
normal high-schoolers wouldn’t ever get a chance like that to improve so religiously.
my nephew was hard-core into baseball in high school, but still had to go the route of hiring private coach for batting, etc.
120 games in summer is like, wow
Hence after a decade of it I got burnt out and quit playing sports seriously. Going summer ball to football to basketball to track and school baseball back to summer again is grueling. I got a full academic scholarship for school anyways, and I probably would have played football in college because that was my favorite sport. I’m glad I didn’t now. All my friends that did say the good bell ringing you get a few times in a good high school game you get almost every play in college. It’s just that the speed is there for everyone instead of a few. With CTE coming into awareness I’m glad I made that decision. I wasn’t good enough to play pro or even a decent D1 program, so it was never going to make me rich.
For perspective sake, take a look at the Cuban WBC roster that Taiwans nearly all CPBL player filled roster competed against in 2013
There are 6 or 7 ml players on this roster, some all star caliber. And tw was competitive against them. You see Tanaka for Japan on the roster next to it.
Sorry but no regional HS team no matter how loaded competes against that.
You are absolutely right. I was thinking the amatuer series age for age. I got confused about the abbreviations. I am still sure our regional HS team could be competitive with the normal Lions, Guardians, Elephants or Monkeys teams.
Sorry Rebbe but no chance unless they went easy on you in a practice or something. The tw WBC team was mostly made up of a mixture of CPBL guys from those teams and some not even the best ones. If they’re hanging with a Cuban team with several all star caliber ML players your HS team isnt gonna have much luck
Cheers
We’ll have to agree to disagree, but one current CPBL all-star and one current MLB all-star from Taiwan that have seen some of our games on tape agreed with me.
Can I see the roster and or games somewhere
I’m sure you could get a good idea through newspaper microfiche but I can’t give out that private info.
Nevermind… I see you aren’t in Taiwan.
Ok well here’s some perspective:
Tseng Ren Ho signed for 1.6 mil out of HS in TW and was on the TW WBC team. He was a top HS prospect here, throwing up to 95 in HS with a mid 80s nasty SL, a CB and CHG. He had 1st/early round MLB talent as a HS player.
He made MLB with the Cubs. He threw against Cuba and was way in over his head. I don’t think he lasted an inning, or if he did not much more than that. Abreu the ML All Star crushed a moonshot off him and I think a couple others did too. His lack of experience was evident. His cpbl teammates were far more prepared.
I’m sure there was some talent on your hs team but there’s still a big gap between 16 to 18 year olds and seasoned pro players. The cpbl can get sloppy but no HS team is gonna beat them unless it had a rare phenom starting pitcher.
I’m guessing your colleagues that told you that were probably being nice to you.
Cheers, off to bed it’s too late here
From what I’ve seen, the four teams in the CPBL have average talent levels that are similar to that of Double A clubs in North America.
Am I right?
Tseng pitched 0.2IP and give up 1 run.
Not quite that good. A ball… Indy ball in the US is prob a better comp, with a few guys that could play up to AA or even 4A types mixed in.
AA is a stones throw from the ML I wouldnt quite put them there…
Since no one in Taiwan pays attention to LLWS anymore, they should make the U12 the new little league craze.
He shut down Korean professionals when he was 16 at the Asian Baseball Championship.
