June 21, 2019
Former Major League Baseball (MLB) star pitcher Wang Chien-ming will serve as the bullpen coach of the Chinese Taipei National Team in WBSC Premier12. The announcement was made by newly appointed manager Hong I-chung.　Wang Chien-ming will also be in charge of connecting with players who are currently under contract with professional teams overseas.
Hong I-chung also announced that five of his coaches are currently serving under him with the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) Lamigo Monkeys: infield coach Tsai Yu-hsiang, batting coach Tseng Hao-chu, pitching coach Wu Chun-liang and bench coach Kuo Chien-lin.
CPBL Uni President Lions manager Huang Kan-lin will serve as the outfield coach.
“The tight schedule we have,” Hong I–chung told the Taipei Times “does not leave much time for coaches to adjust to one another. So we have decided that the majority of the coaches would be from the same team.”
Wang Chien-ming is currently the pitching coach of the Fubon Guardians, another franchise competing in the CPBL. As a player, he contributed to a silver medal that Chinese Taipei claimed in the 2002 Asian Games. He also pitched in the 2004 Athens Olympics and in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Wang was signed by the New York Yankees as an undrafted free agent (his signing bonus was US$ 1.9 million) in 2000. He made his MLB debut on 30 April 2005. He won 19 games as a starter both in 2006, the most in the American League, and in 2007.
He played also for the Washington Nationals, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Kansas City Royals. His last MLB season, 2016, he was converted into a reliever by the Royals.
During his tenure with the Yankees, Wang Chien-ming was idolized in Chinese Taipei. All of his games were televised nationwide, most on public big screens.
Frank W. Chen, a Canadian filmmaker born in Taichung, directed a movie about his story: Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story.
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