Japan's SoftBank Hawks sign young Taiwanese pitcher

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan's professional baseball league announced the signing of 19-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Zhang Jun-wei (張峻瑋) at a press conference in Taipei on Monday.

Although details of his contract were not disclosed at the event, various media outlets in Japan have reported that the contract consisted of a signing bonus of 100 million Japanese yen (US$649,925) and an annual salary of 4 million yen.

SoftBank Hawks General Manager Sugihiko Mikasa said in Taipei he was hugely impressed when he saw Zhang start for Taiwan during the super round of the U-18 Baseball World Cup against the United States last year.

In that game played at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, the Taiwanese pitcher threw seven shutout innings to give Taiwan a 3-0 victory over the U.S.

Mikasa said he was aware that Zhang, whose fastball can reach speeds of 156 kilometers-per-hour, expressed the hope of making it to the majors within two years, but he felt the top priority was to keep him healthy so he can continue to grow.

Zhang shares similar traits to Lin Yu-min (林昱珉), the 21-year-old Arizona Diamondbacks prospect who started Taiwan's Premier12 title game win over Japan on Sunday, said New Taipei City Baseball Association (NTCBA) Chairman Tsai Ming-tang (蔡明堂).

As with Lin, Zhang is good technically and has a lot of heart, Tsai said, adding that he looked forward to seeing the young pitcher do well in Japan.

Zhang is a graduate of Ku Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School based in New Taipei's Sanchong District, which is known for having developed several of the players on Taiwan's team at the Premier12 championship, including Lin.

Lee Tu-hsuan (李杜軒), a scout for the SoftBank Hawks, said the signing of the Taiwanese pitcher showed that baseball legend Sadaharu Oh (王貞治), who is president of the Japanese team, thought highly of Taiwan's talent pool.