Tsung-Che Cheng ( zh, t=鄭宗哲, p=Zhèng Zōngzhé; born July 26, 2001) is a Taiwanese professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He signed with the Pirates as an international

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2019 and made his MLB debut in 2025.

Professional career

Cheng, a native of

Pingtung County Pingtung () is a County (Taiwan), county located in southern Taiwan. It has a warm tropical monsoon climate and is known for its agriculture and tourism. Kenting National Park, Taiwan's oldest national park, is located in the county. The county ...

, Taiwan, signed with the

out of Pu-Men High School as an international free agent on July 2, 2019, for a signing bonus of $380,000. He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Cheng made his professional debut with the

Florida Complex League Pirates The Florida Complex League Pirates are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Pirates. The team plays its hom ...

in 2021, and played second base, third base, and shortstop throughout the season. After the 2021 minor league season ended, Cheng played winter ball with the

Caimanes de Barranquilla The Caimanes de Barranquilla are a baseball team in the Colombian Professional Baseball League. They have participated in the league since the 1984–85 season, playing in the 12,000-capacity Estadio Édgar Rentería in Barranquilla. Caimanes a ...

, winning the 2022 Caribbean Series. Cheng spent the 2022

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

season with the

Bradenton Marauders The Bradenton Marauders are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Bradenton, Florida, and play their home games at LECOM Park, which also serves as the ...

, playing shortstop more frequently. He appeared in 104 games, hit for a .270 batting average, .376 on-base percentage, and a .794 on-base plus slugging percentage, while scoring 79 runs. Of his 38 extra-base hits, seven were triples. He led the

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

in triples and runs scored, finished second in on-base percentage, fourth in batting average, and fifth in on-base plus slugging percentage. Cheng's 33 stolen bases in 39 attempts led all minor leaguers within the Pirates organization. At the end of the 2022 minor league season, Cheng was assigned to the Gigantes de Carolina of the

Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Oriental Mi ...

. At the start of the 2023 regular season, Cheng ranked thirtieth on MLB Pipeline's list of top Pirates prospects and was assigned to the

Greensboro Grasshoppers The Greensboro Grasshoppers are a Minor League Baseball team based in Greensboro, North Carolina. They are members of the South Atlantic League and are the High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They play their home games at First National B ...

. On June 23, he played his first game at the Double–A level, with the

Altoona Curve The Altoona Curve are a Minor League Baseball team based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, named after nearby Horseshoe Curve (but also alluding to the curveball, a type of pitch). The team plays in the Eastern League and is the Double-A affiliate of ...

. During the season, Cheng set a career high in triples and was ranked by MLB Pipeline as the twenty-second best Pirates prospect. On November 14, 2023, the Pirates added Cheng to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. Prior to the start of the 2024 season, he was ranked the seventeenth-best Pirates prospect by MLB Pipeline. Cheng was optioned to Double–A Altoona to begin the year. In 126 appearances for the Curve, he slashed .218/.320/.341 with 11 home runs, 54 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. On September 17, 2024, the Pirates promoted Cheng to the Triple-A

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory ...

. Cheng was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis to begin the 2025 season. On April 7, 2025, Cheng was promoted to the major leagues for the first time following an injury to

Jared Triolo Jared Robert Triolo (born February 8, 1998) is an American professional baseball infielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023. Amateur career Triolo attended Lake Travis High School in Austin ...

. Two days later, Cheng made his major league debut against the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

, and became the 18th Taiwanese player in Major League Baseball history.

International career

Shortly after signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cheng competed in the 2019 U-18 Baseball World Cup. Cheng was named to the Taiwanese national team roster for the

2023 World Baseball Classic The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball tournament and the fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. It began on March 8, 2023, and ran until March 21. It was originally scheduled to take place in ...

. Over the course of the tournament, he batted for a .333 (5-for-15) batting average as a leadoff hitter and drove in three runs. Later that year, Cheng appeared in the postponed

2022 Asian Games The 2022 Asian Games (), officially the 19th Asian Games () and also known as Hangzhou 2022 ( zh, c=, s=杭州2022, labels=no), were a continental multi-sport event which was held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, China. The ...

, competing in five

games, batting .318/.455/.348 in 22 at-bats, and winning a silver medal with Taiwan. Cheng was named to Taiwan's preliminary roster for the World Baseball Classic 2025 Qualifiers, but later withdrew.

Personal life

Cheng is known by the nickname "Z" because the

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

of the three Chinese characters in his name, , all start with the letter Z. However, the actual romanization of his name uses the

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles ( ) is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from the system produced by Thomas Francis Wade during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert Giles's '' A Chinese–English Dictionary'' ...

system. He is married to Irene.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Tsung-che 2001 births Living people Altoona Curve players Asian Games medalists in baseball Asian Games silver medalists for Chinese Taipei Baseball players at the 2022 Asian Games Bradenton Marauders players Caimanes de Barranquilla players Expatriate baseball players in Colombia Expatriate baseball players in Puerto Rico Florida Complex League Pirates players Gigantes de Carolina (baseball) players Greensboro Grasshoppers players Indianapolis Indians players Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente infielders Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball players from Taiwan Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Sportspeople from Pingtung County Pittsburgh Pirates players Taiwanese expatriate baseball players in the United States 21st-century Taiwanese sportsmen 2023 World Baseball Classic players Major League Baseball shortstops