Cheng Kai-wen (; using "" as his registration until 2010, born July 26, 1988) is a Taiwanese

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

for the

Wei Chuan Dragons The Wei Chuan Dragons () are a professional baseball team in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) that originally existed between 1990 and 1999. In 2019, negotiations regarding the franchise's revival and return to the CPBL took ...

of the

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 2 ...

(CPBL). He has previously played in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formatio ...

(NPB) for the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

and

Yokohama DeNA BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current ...

, and in the CPBL for the Chinatrust/CTBC Brothers.

Career

Hanshin Tigers

Cheng was signed to a one-year contract with the

in 2009. Cheng played with the Tigers through the 2012 season.

Yokohama DeNA BayStars

Cheng signed with the

for the 2013 season.

Chinatrust/CTBC Brothers

After the year, Cheng signed with the

Chinatrust Brothers The CTBC Brothers () or simply Brothers are a professional baseball team in Taiwan. The team was originally established as an amateur team in 1984 by the Brother Hotel located in Taipei City, and later joined the Chinese Professional Baseball Le ...

, whom he played for from 2014 to 2023. In parts of 10 seasons in the CPBL, Cheng accumulated a 76–51 record and 3.69 ERA with 718 strikeouts across innings pitched. On November 17, 2023, Cheng elected free agency.

Wei Chuan Dragons

On January 11, 2024, Cheng signed with the

of the

International career

He was selected

Chinese Taipei national baseball team The Chinese Taipei baseball team () is the national men's baseball team of the Republic of China (Taiwan). It is governed by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association. The team is ranked second in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confeder ...

at the 2008 Summer Olympics,

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference t ...

and

2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series The 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series was the twelfth edition of the MLB Japan All-Star Series, a best-of-six series between an All-Star team from Major League Baseball (MLB) and for the second time in series history, the Japanese national team, Sa ...

exhibition game against Japan

References

1988 births Living people Asian Games medalists in baseball Asian Games silver medalists for Chinese Taipei Baseball players at the 2014 Asian Games Hanshin Tigers players Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Olympic baseball players for Taiwan Baseball players from Tainan Taiwanese expatriate baseball players in Japan Yokohama DeNA BayStars players {{Taiwan-baseball-bio-stub