Via Liberty Times.
Multiple sources are reporting the Pittsburgh Pirates are close to signing Zheng Zong-Zhe (鄭宗哲), a 17-year-old Taiwanese shortstop.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are reportedly close to signing 17-year-old 鄭宗哲 (Zheng Zong-Zhe), a shortstop from Pu-Men high school. According to Liberty Sports, the deal said to be at least $300,000 USD.
With the 2019 CPBL Draft just around the corner, Zheng who is considered to be one of the top high school shortstop talents did not enter the draft. As per Liberty Sports, Zheng has shown great interest to go overseas, which make this deal extremely likely to happen.
CPBL Stats also notes that Zheng would be the 10th Taiwanese player to sign with Pittsburgh since 2009. By my reckoning, these include:
- Sheng-qin Hong (洪聖欽) - Pitcher, 2009.
- Pin-Hong Ji - Outfielder, 2009.
- Ji-wei Xu - First baseman, 2009.
- Yung-chi Chen (陳鏞基) - Infielder, 2010.
- Jin-de Jhang (張進德) - Catcher, 2011. Reached AAA Indianapolis, but left the organization this past offseason.
- Wei-Chung Wang - Pitcher, 2011. Wang would reach the Major Leagues with Milwaukee and Oakland.
- Jen Lei Liao (廖任磊) - Pitcher, 2014.
- Yao-Hsun Yang (陽耀勳) - Pitcher, 2014