Young Taiwanese pitchers need to improve conditioning: ex-Yankee

Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) Taiwanese pitcher Chien-ming Wang (王建民) said on Monday that he believes the country's young pitchers need to improve their physical conditioning to make up the gap between the strength of Asian and Western players.

The former Major League Baseball pitcher who won 19 games in consecutive seasons for the New York Yankees in 2006 and 2007, made the suggestion during a charity event to help train a baseball team from Changhua Arts High School.

Taiwanese pitcher Chien-ming Wang (王建民, front)

Speaking on the differences between training in America and Taiwan, Wang said players in Taiwan do higher volumes of training, which helps players develop their willpower.

Looking back at his own career, he said that when he was pitching in the United States, he noticed American players only needed to throw 40 pitches in the bullpen, but he needed double the amount.

Talking about young players in recent years, the number of players joining Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) fresh out of high school has been on the rise, Wang said, citing Wu Shih-hao (吳世豪), a young pitcher he has been mentoring on the Fubon Guardians development team.

Wang, who has been a visiting coach with the team since June, said young pitchers like Wu need to increase the amount they train, focusing on strengthening their shoulders and general conditioning. But it is still not one size fits all.

Taiwanese pitcher Chien-ming Wang (王建民, left)

"The strength and builds of Taiwanese athletes are different, and so the methods used have to be different," he said.

Wang revealed that he will continue to help young players in Taiwan through spring training before making a trip back to the United States.