BASEBALL/Brothers' Chou Szu-chi eyes managerial post after retirement in 2024

Taipei, March 15 (CNA) Former Taiwan's professional baseball league MVP Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) revealed Friday that he hopes to join the CTBC Brothers' front office when he retires after the 2024 season.

At a press conference held in Taipei to formally announce his retirement, the 13-time Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) All-Star fielder said he and the franchise have expressed mutual interest in him joining the front office.

"I have expressed to the franchise my interest in business management and a managerial post. I want to learn more about this field and I'm thankful the franchise is willing to give me this chance.

"This is something that would have been impossible in the past, so I'm very grateful for the CTBC enterprise," the 42-year-old Chou said.

Asked about his interest in coaching, the 2012 CPBL regular season MVP, who batted .307 over 19 seasons, made it clear that this "has never been a part of my career plan."

"Taiwan has had so much coaching talent, so I want to do something other than coaching."

The arrangement was confirmed by the Brothers GM Liu Chih-wei (劉志威), saying that the team has discussed the issue with Chou several times.

Hard to say goodbye

The fact that Chou plans to hang up his cleats after the 2024 season was announced by the franchise on Monday. Chou said it was his idea to postpone the announcement until this week because the team was busy with other matters in the first two months of the year.

"I am a player who always puts the team before myself. I think it's fine to deal with my own business later," the three-time CPBL champion said.

The veteran confessed that it was tough to bid farewell to the game after a pro career of nearly two decades.

"I'm afraid that I could not control my emotions. I'm a man who really loves baseball, so taking off the jersey is hard to accept," Chou said. "I had tried to imagine it in the past few years, but it's still hard when this day comes."

Once considering leaving the field without an announcement, Chou said he ultimately decided against it when he thought about the fans who cheered for him through the years.

"I'm very honored to be able to put on this Brothers jersey and to join the CTBC family. This is the biggest pride of my life. Also, it is my biggest bliss that I can earn so much love from the millions of Elephants fans."

According to Liu, Chou's retirement game is likely to take place at the Taipei Dome in the last week of the regular season, which Chou said would be "the greatest glory" if it does happen.

Leaving his legacy

However, there is no final word on whether the franchise will retire Chou's trademark No. 16 jersey, a matter that will be discussed by its committee members, according to Liu, encouraging Chou to push his numbers higher to stand a greater shot.

Meanwhile, Chou said "Of course I want to have my jersey number retired if it is possible," but he emphasized a player has to leave a big enough legacy to prove himself deserving of such a ritual.

In the 1,738 games he has played, Chou collected 1,801 hits, 144 home runs, 947 RBIs, and 98 stolen bases, two stolen bases away from entering a rare group with at least 1,000 hits, 100 homers, and 100 stolen bases.

As of the 2023 season, only eight players had accumulated those numbers in the CPBL's 34-year history.

In the last season, Chou played 82 of 120 regular-season games and batted .272 while stealing bases three times in six attempts.

If Chou is to make contributions to the Brothers as he said, he is more likely to do so via his bat and plate discipline than his feet.

According to Rebas, a local sabermetrics company, Chou displayed outstanding control of his bat. His whiff percentage of 10.2 and 8.81 strikeout percentage place him in the top 2 percent and 3 percent among all players in the league.

That plate discipline is also mirrored by his 8.81 base on balls (BB) percentage and .341 on-base percentage (OBP), respectively placing him ahead of 71 percent and 72 percent of players in the same categories.

The Brothers play their season opener on March 31 at the Taipei Dome against defending champions Wei Chuan Dragons, who will host the Rakuten Moneys at Taiwan's first indoor stadium on March 30 for the CPBL season opener.