Fu-Te Ni
by Jon ~ December 15th, 2008
There have been some rumors that 26 year old Taiwanese LHSP Fu-Te Ni is looking to make the jump to American baseball after his CPBL team, the Chinabank Whales, disbanded.
The Mariners have apparently shown interest, and have offered him a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training and a guarantee that he’d start no lower than in AA. The contract reportedly had a base salary of $50K, with a $150K signing bonus. Word is that he turned down the offer in hopes of obtaining a guaranteed major league contract.
However, he has said as recently as yesterday that he is still contemplating Seattle’s offer, or is at least still in talks with the team.
Ni led the CPBL in strikeouts this past season, and I’m told via email that “he is generally regarded as one of the best pitchers in the the CPBL.” I’ve read on some sites that he is indeed the best, for what that’s worth.
He is also being pursued by the Twins, Cubs, Tigers, Braves and Japanese teams.
I’ve sent out some emails and I will keep looking for information. If I get anything I’ll update this post.
You can find some information by searching this site. There is also a Lookout Landing fanpost with a bit of info.
7 Responses to Fu-Te Ni
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section331
December 16th, 2008 at 9:38 am
You made it onto MLBTR with this post. Not that it means anything, but I was surprised to see it mentioned.
BoiseM
December 16th, 2008 at 9:51 am
I wasn’t particularly interested in Taiwan baseball until I found this little nugget on the link provided.
“Nan-Ying won game 3, 3-2 to win the 2008 HS Wood Bat Tourney Championship….
A side note to the championship game: After the game, Nan-Ying fans beat up journalists/reporters from UDN & Liberty Times. The junior HS coach from Kui-Jen (father of Nan-Ying RHP Hung) threatened journalists/reporters not to write anything. A can threw by fans hit Che-Hsuan Lin – current Red Sox prospect and former Nan-Ying alum.”
They won the championship and then went after the reporters?
section331
December 16th, 2008 at 11:11 am
I couldn’t find any details specifically, but I wonder if the reporters were Chinese? Taiwan has a bit of a strained relationship with China, because China considers Taiwan part of China, while the Taiwanese want nothing to do with that line of thinking.
I could be reading something in that’s not there – perhaps it was the same sort of thing that happens in Philadelphia when THEIR teams win – there are jerks all over the place….
Zeel
December 16th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
The ‘accident’(?) between repoters and fans, had NO relationship with POLITIC. I dont know that you could read Chinese or not. Liberty Times had put their news on-line. You could check those news on their website.
I’m sorry for my bad English.
Zeel, from Taiwan.
TW
December 17th, 2008 at 5:18 am
According to Liberty Times, it’s the fights occurring between reporters and some fans. The fans were too excited and they flooded into the media section above the Nan-Ying players’ lounge. The reporter asked them to leave and some fights began.
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/dec/16/today-so5.htm
http://udn.com/NEWS/SPORTS/SPO4/4644026.shtml
TW
December 17th, 2008 at 6:40 am
I think the best Taiwanese starting pitcher in Taiwan pro league(CPBL) now is Pan Wei-Lun, not Fu-Te Ni. Check these data.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei-Lun_Pan
http://twbsball.dils.tku.edu.tw/wiki/index.php/%E6%BD%98%E5%A8%81%E5%80%AB (In Traditional Chinese)
http://www.cpbl.com.tw/personal_Rec/pbat_personal.aspx?Pno=L0C8&pbatpage=1 (In Traditional Chinese)
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=5h9IeeGZsTc (Pan Wei-Lun’s no-hitter)
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gf7kfG-t2s (His 21 victories winning streak)
However, Fu-Te Ni’s stats in CPBL are not so remarkable when comparing with Pan Wei-Lun’s.
http://twbsball.dils.tku.edu.tw/wiki/index.php/%E5%80%AA%E7%A6%8F%E5%BE%B7 (In Traditional Chinese)
http://www.cpbl.com.tw/Personal_Rec/pbat_personal.aspx?Pno=R081 (In Traditional Chinese)
section331
December 17th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Zeel – no, I have no Chinese – I can say ‘thank you’ in Cantonese, that’s about it.
Thanks for clarifying. I didn’t see any links there that I could identify as further information about the incident. Your English is fine – thank you for telling me.
TW – thanks, sounds like the sort of thing that could happen here.