Major League Trade Rumors brings word of two amateur signings out of Korea.
The Chicago Cubs have continued their Atilla the Hun-like march across the Asian continent, this time signing centerfielder Na Kyung-min to a minor league deal with a bonus reported around 725,000. Na has been called “the fastest player in Korean high school baseball” [...]

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According to Taiwan Baseball, The Chicago Cubs have signed their third player in Taiwan this year, inking 6′5 Sanhsin HS righty Wang Tsu-an to a minor league deal with a signing bonus reportedly exceeding 300,000.
Wang could be considered a high-risk/high-reward type sign, with a fastball that sits in the high eighties.  He has a very [...]

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EWC extends heartfelt congratulations to Oakland A’s International Scout Adam Hislop, whose wife Nicole gave birth to their first son, Lenny Zen Hislop on Wednesday.  Lenny is the the Hislop’s second child, but since Adam and his wife are both of the Mormon faith we can only assume that a starting lineup of Hislops will be [...]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0AtwyZwZUU

Taichung Intercontinental Stadium.  Some elite players have stepped foot on to that field:  Ichiro.  Carl Crawford.  Darvish. Longoria.  Karim Garcia. Most NPB and KBO star hitters.  And some up-and-comers like Rasmus and Dexter Fowler. Now you can add another name to that storied list: Jackson Broder.
Now, keep in mind that this is impromptu, or I [...]

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The Yakult Swallows unveiled their new uniforms recently, including a set of throwbacks to go along with their usual get ups. You can check out the full set here.

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I’ve only written about the Korean formerly named Kyeong-duk Kang, now known as Rays prospect Kyeong Kang, one time on EWC. But here’s an interesting post from Rays Prospects, ranking Kang as the #6 prospect in the team’s organization. Kang grew up in Korea, but then moved to the U.S. to attend high school, so [...]

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We (as in the Cubs, not EWC) signed a couple of Korean players recently. I didn’t want to write about them until the contracts had been approved by MLB.  Writing a post referencing something about a Korean signing with another team, and reported in the  the Korean media is a bit different from writing about [...]

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Down in Florida, where the Gulf Coast League (rookie) just kicked off last week, the Twins are rocking a starting lineup featuring no less than three Koreans — catcher Jang Jae-Hyung, infielder Choi Hyeong-rok and outfielder Choi Hyun-wook. I have to admit I haven’t seen any of these players myself — the two Chois were [...]

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It’s been a while since I’ve checked in on Jung Sung-ki, the right-handed sidearmer signed by the Braves in 2002 who was forced to return to Korea and fufil his military service requirement in 2005. Jung started the season at  Double-A Mississippi. The news isn’t very good.
Through 31 innings in 27 games Jung is 2-2 [...]

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It’s been a little while since I wrote about Rhee Dae-eun —  mostly because he was shut down  toward the end of  April due to some  tendinitis in this arm. After taking a month off he’s come back strong and made his third consecutive start on June 11 against the Quad Cities River Bandits.
The news [...]

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This kid’s on fire. I wasn’t planning on covering every one of his starts in Class A, but I may have to…he may not be there for long the way he’s going. This evening he threw six shutout innings and won his third game in three tries as the Peoria Chiefs beat the West Michigan [...]

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As I ease into this whole scouting world I’m getting a better picture of how it might translate for East Windup Chronicle. Scouting tends to be pretty low-key, if not altogether hidden, behind-the-scenes work. Not exactly conducive to the hey-look-at-me world of blogging. Still, I’m hoping I can bring the two worlds together at least [...]

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Nice writeup about Lin Che-Hsuan by Sox on Deck, the Red Sox minor league blog on MVN. He gives some detailed analysis of Lin’s first season in the U.S., which was split between the rookie Gulf Coast League and Class A Lowell.

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After not having pitched in nearly three years because of his Korean military obligation Atlanta Braves prospect Jung Sung-ki has been doing some double time in the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Javelinas.
A late addition to the roster Jung has generally preformed well for the first place Javelinas, mostly working in a setup role. [...]

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(Post and Photo Courtesy of Taiwan Baseball)

18-year-old SS Kuo Yen-Wen has signed with the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds now have two Taiwanese players in Kuo & LHP Chiu Tzu-Kai. For more information on Kuo, including You Tube footage, see this post. Kuo is the fourth player signed by a ML organization from the 2006 junior [...]

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In years past  it wasn’t uncommon for a major league player to interrupt a promising career to serve in the military. These days you don’t see it so much. However, for Koreans  there is no choice. All men are required to serve a 26-month military service before they turn 25.
It’s possible that if not for [...]

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In our last installment, we took a look  Kosuke Fukudome’s MLB prospects.   In this installment, we take a look at the arms coming out of Japan’s NPB, as there are  quite a few  that should make an immediate impact in the show and help bring the spoils of victory to fantasy owners.  

ON [...]

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Ed. Note: While MLB teams, fans, and fantasy baseball players are keenly interested in getting their grubby paws on the next Hideki Okajima, player movement from Japanese clubs to MLB is somewhat of a touchy issue for fans of Nippon Pro Baseball. Some journalists that cover NPB spit, scowl, and become venomous when you ask [...]

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One of the regular features here at East Windup Chronicle will be to follow the trajectories of some of the more intriguing Asian prospects in baseball.
The first such prospect will be Jung Young-Il, an 19-year-old right-hander from South Korea. Jung caught my eye because he was mentioned in the recent article  detailing the extraordinarily high [...]

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