Yankees sign up teenage prospects
Before Chinese basketball prospect Yi Jianlian begins his NBA career, two of his counterparts will already be living the American dream.
The New York Yankees baseball team yesterday announced that they have signed two Chinese teenagers to Minor League contracts.
Liu Kai, a left-handed pitcher, and catcher Zhang Zhenwang, both 19, will become the first Chinese players to join an MLB team from the Chinese Baseball Association (CBA).
"This is an exciting opportunity for us to integrate Chinese players into the organization," general manager Brian Cashman said on the team's official website.
"We believe that this is the start of something we can develop further as we work toward our commitment to help grow the game of baseball in China."
The CBA said it was a historic moment.
"The signing ushers in a new period of Chinese players joining the world's highest-level baseball league," according to a statement released by the association yesterday.
The two players are the cream of China's baseball crop. Zhang is a core member of Tianjin Lions, two-time champions of the China Baseball League (CBL). The Tianjin native, who began playing baseball in 2000, is also a member of Chinese national team and played in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.
Liu started his baseball career one year later than Zhang, and is relatively new to the fans after making his first appearance in the CBL last season.
However, the fledgling picher made a shining start to his career, helping his team Guangdong Leopards overcome three-time league champions Beijing Tigers to enter the championship series for the first time. Both players will leave for the United States after the CBL 2007 season wraps up at the end of this month and will be introduced at a formal press conference at Yankee Stadium on July 6.
Whether Liu and Zhang ever play at Yankee Stadium remains to be seen as the two first have to prove themselves after they report to the Yankees' player development complex in Tampa.
However, MLB believes their stay with the Yankees will not only bring huge benefits to the league but also to the Chinese national team as it prepares for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
"Having players sign with MLB teams in an important part of the growth of the game in China. There is no doubt that their skill level will increase dramatically by playing against the other great players in the Yankees' farm system," Jim Small, MLB's vice president of international market development, told China Daily.
"That will pay huge benefits to the China national team and, when the players eventually return to China, to the domestic league as well."
The CBA shared this positive view.
"It helps us better prepare for the Beijing Games and could make baseball more popular in China," the statement said.
The signing is the result of the working partnership agreed between the Yankees and the CBA in January. The two sides signed an agreement in Beijing, the first between an MLB club and the CBA, allowing the Yankees to send staff including coaches, trainers, doctors and scouts to China, while Chinese players will train at facilities overseas.
Helping China's baseball reach a competitive level is seen as a stepping-stone for the Yankees and other MLB teams hoping to make headway in the market.
"There are many clubs interested in signing Chinese players and I would not be surprised to see more players signed in the next few months. But it is important to understand that these signings are a small part of the overall plan for China," Small said.
The Yankees are pressing ahead with the development of their China operation, as discussions are underway over establishment of baseball academies in the country.
(China Daily 06/20/2007 page22)
