BASEBALL/Unofficial Team Taiwan roster for Asian Baseball Championships announced

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association announced on Monday the tentative roster of Team Taiwan for the imminent 30th BFA Asian Baseball Championship set to start in early December.

The 24-man roster, with Kuo Lee Chien-fu (郭李建夫) as the manager, is headlined by three professional players serving teams of the MLB minors and of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Lin Yu-min (林昱珉) and Chen Sheng-ping (陳聖平), a left-handed pitcher and a short-stop, are teammates on the Arizona Diamondbacks Double-A affiliate team, and fireballer Sun Yi-lei (孫易磊) has signed a four-year contract worth 90 million yen (US$601,516) in mid-October to play for the Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters .

Lin and Sun were among the team's 10 pitchers, with seven pitchers from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) and one from Taiwan's Division I amateur league.

The roster also includes three catchers, seven infielders, and four outfielders.

Seventeen players are from CPBL teams, including Rakuten Monkeys slugger Liao Chien-fu (廖建富) and Wei Chuan Dragons young talent Hsu Jo-hsi (徐若熙), while the other four are from Taiwan's Division I amateur league.

The team will play an exhibition game with the potential roster of Team Taiwan for the U-23 Baseball World Cup at the Taipei Dome on Nov. 18 before hosting Team South Korea at the same stadium for the Asian Baseball Championship opener on Dec. 3.

That would be the first international tourney held at the long-awaited indoor stadium.

Taiwan, the defending champions of the competition, and South Korea are joined by Hong Kong and Palestine in Group A, with last edition's runners-up Japan, the Philippines, Pakistan and Thailand in Group B.

Taiwan will play Palestine and Hong Kong at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on Dec. 5 and 6.

The top two teams of each group can advance to the Super Rounds at the Taipei Dome before the finals take place at the dome on Nov. 10.