Yes, I’m aware Cuba is not in Asia, but any time a 21 year old left hander touching 102 MPH defects, it gets top billing on a baseball site. Chapman is arguably the biggest non-MLB baseball talent in the world (only Darvish comes close), and this is a big story.

MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that Chapman has defected from Cuba, and plans to sign with an MLB team. From MLBTR:
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You might know Jason Giambi.  He was the 2000 AL MVP, is a five-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger award winner.   He’s hit 406 home runs in his career. And there was that little juice issue we heard about now and again.

Yet none of this earned him a spot on the radar of recent Tigers call-up Ni Fu Te’s consciousness.  “I didn’t know who he was” said Ni after being asked how it felt to strike out the vaunted Giambino in an interview. [Translation tool required].

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The Pirates signed their third Taiwanese high school player this week, this time inking Shiyuan HS staff ace Hung Sheng-Chin to minor league contract. Hung is an 18 year old 5′11, 158 pound RHP that touches 90 but sits in the mid to high 80’s. He works in a mid-70’s curve and change-up with a quick, clean arm and advanced pitchability for his age.

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This could be a very big deal for baseball in Asia. The groundwork for a new professional baseball league based in Australia, set to start play in November of 2010, that could include other Asian cities.

!!!

Could this be the beginnings of the Pacific Rim wide league we here at EWC have always thought might just be an interesting and feasible idea? I’d say this plan is quite feasible.

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The Pirates have signed their second position player out of Taiwan High school this year, inking first baseman/pitcher Hsu Chi-wei.  The 17 year-old lefty stands at 5′11 and throws in the low 80’s.  Taiwan Baseball has more here.

Last night I had an interesting talk with an professor of economics from UC Santa Cruz. He’s here teaching a summer class at a university in Seoul and was in Busan with a mutual friend. Economics and baseball cross paths often, something I realized a few years ago when economists like Andrew Zimbalist kept popping up in statistical analysis blogs. And of course, there’s Bill James’s list of degrees.

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With an eye on the Futures Game rosters, Baseball Digest Daily takes a look back at an Asian prospects list it compiled earlier this year. Funny enough, a few of us that were scouting a tournament last week came across the original list and talked about it for a good 30 minutes. There’s no right or wrong with these lists, but they’re always fun to debate.

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I usually go to PopSeoul when I need some Korean pop music news to joke about, but I’ve always gotten the impression that the creators are more savvy than the content would sometimes indicate. Heck, I write about guys who take their shirts off at baseball games, so what am I going on about?

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I’ve been following the box scores of the GCL Pirates over the past week or so, waiting to see the names of Rinku and Dinesh. The closest thing I’ve found is Mpho’ Gift Ngoepe, the South African the Pirates signed last year. Incidentally, he’s 3-for-12 and is usually hitting leadoff.

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Recently called-up lefty Ni Fu-te made his MLB debut today in a mop-up role in a 7-1 loss to the Athletics. He fanned three, showing the stuff that makes him an intriguing pitcher, but also gave up a bomb to Ryan Sweeney. The final line: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 HR, 0 BB, 3 K’s.

Jeremy Brahm, who I mentioned having had an interesting email exchange about KBO uniforms with, has finished the first in what will be a two part series for Uniwatch. Co-written with the site’s Phil Hecken, this initial piece is a comprehensive look at the current KBO uniforms, which includes home/away jerseys, as well as the throwbacks that have become so popular during the last couple years.

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Another sign out of Taiwan this month, as the PIttsburgh Pirates inked small, speedy outfielder Chi Ping-hong out of Shiyuan High School to a minor league contract. Chi bats left-handed, stands at a fringy 5′7 (!) and weighs in at 145 pounds. He gets well above average run times and has a knack for contact with a decent stroke. Defensively he has good range due to his speed but a poor throwing arm.

Chi was signed by Pirates Asia scout Chiang Fu-Chun. Chiang was impressed by Chi’s work habits and drive to try his hand at major league baseball. He noted that Chi is aware of the fact that he’ll have an uphill climb to the majors due to his smaller stature, but relished the challenge anyways. Chi signed a 2009 contract with a lower bonus and will begin his journey in the minor leagues in Australia.

The Korean media is reporting that CJ Nitkowski has been claimed by Doosan. Funny thing is, I don’t think CJ himself knows this yet. He’s currently on vacation in Japan and Twittered that he’s waiting to hear if he clears waivers, saying “if I clear I’ll stay in Japan for a while before I head home, if not…”

That was two hours ago. Someone tell (or maybe Twitter) CJ that SK’s arch rival claimed him.

Later he Twitters: “Text from my old SK translator says: “Emergency: call me ASAP” Having trouble making an international phone call right now. Will try later.”

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Not official yet, but sources indicate that pitcher Ni Fu-te will be called up to the Detroit Tigers from AAA Toledo early this week. Ni put up sharp numbers for the Mud Hens–he was 3-0 with a 2.65 E.R.A. with 32 K’s to 9 walks and a 1.15 WHIP in 34 innings pitched.

Ni, the former Chinatrust Whales staff ace, is set to become the sixth Taiwanese player to reach MLB. The six-foot lefty joined the Tigers organization at the AAA level last January after his team, the Chinatrust Whales, dissolved in a gambling scandal.

You can check him out in the video above against team Canada in last years Olympic Qualifiers, and in another video here sending Tokyo Giants slugger Lee Seung-yeop down on strikes.

This reminds me of one of my all time favorite EWC posts about Jose Lima secretly perving out on some Kia cheerleaders as they dance atop the dugout. Karim Garcia isn’t being so discreet as he ogles at some ceremonial bat girls in Busan, but this is nearly as funny.

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Probably old dope for those of you in the states, and it’s hoops, not baseball, but this story hits home since a. it’s my hometown team and b. it involves the fine line of blogging vs. secrecy/insider sports information that I walk every day as both a journalist and MLB scout.  The always excellent TAN blog recently reported on how Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love broke news that Coach/GM/Good player trader-awayer Kevin McHale was fired via Twitter–before the Wolves’ made an official announcement.

Now anyone involved with pro sports is thinking “God, what a dumb ass, a player giving away team info like that. The GM must have torn him a new one.  Who would do that?!” But here’s where the story gets interesting: Not only was Love not reprimanded or punished by his team for the offending message, he was encouraged by new GM David Kahn to tweet more! TAN speculates as to the future ramifications of this, and how players having the freedom to speak their minds on blogs might alter the course of sports journalism in a big way:

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On the heels of its now infamous losses to China in the Beijing Olympics and WBC, Taiwan’s international rep took another one on the chin this week when it learned it likely will no longer be invited to participate in the Asia Series. Despite putting up competitive teams, The CPBL winners’ presence in the tourney apparently wasn’t helping business any. Sponsor Konami were reported to have lost about 2 million USD during the last go around.

The upcoming series will instead feature a one-game showdown between the winners of the Japan Series and the Korea series. (Translation tool required).

Gary, Indiana’s finest. Dead at 50. Thanks for the memories — for being The Beatles of the 80s, and for being one of the strangest, truly unique characters pop music has ever seen.

Some nice props for all three. And some very extensive coverage by MLB.com.

On Tazawa:

Tazawa has had an impressive start to his first season of professional baseball. In 14 starts for Double-A Portland, Tazawa is 7-4 with a 2.92 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .225 against him.

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The Cubs continued their spending ways in Taiwan this week, signing Nan Ying high school second baseman Chen Pin-chie to a minor league deal. Pin Chie was the big ticket offensively this year in Taiwan, and reportedly received a signing bonus upwards of 300,000.

Taiwan Baseball has the lowdown and videos.