Taiwanese pitcher Tseng Jen-ho (曾仁和. left)

Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) With the promotion of Hu Chih-wei (胡智為) Wednesday, five Taiwanese players are now playing in Major League Baseball (MLB) at the same time, setting a new record for the most Taiwanese to be playing in the world's top-tier baseball league in a season.

The previous record was four.

The 23-year-old right-hander Hu was promoted to the MLB by the Tampa Bay Rays. Hu last pitched in the majors June 11. He was scheduled to report to the team Thursday. Hu currently has a 1.13 ERA with one loss in four games he pitched in the big leagues this season.

Hu will be joining three other Taiwan-native pitchers in the majors soon -- Chen Wei-yin (陳偉殷) of the Miami Marlins, who recently returned to the team's bullpen following injury, Wang Wei-chung (王維中) of the Milwaukee Brewers, and the recently promoted Tseng Jen-ho (曾仁和) of the Chicago Cubs.

The fifth Taiwanese player in the MLB is Lin Tzu-wei (林子偉) of the Boston Red Sox, the only Taiwanese fielder in the majors this season.

Since Taiwan's legendary No. 4 batter Chen Chin-feng (陳金鋒) made his MLB debut in 2002, a total of 14 Taiwanese have so far appeared in the American pro league, 10 of whom have been pitchers.

(By Joseph Yeh)
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