How did Hu Chih-wei make it to Major League Baseball at a younger age than Wang Chien-ming? Ranked the Tampa Bay Rays’ No. 5 prospect for 2017, 23-year-old Hu has pursued his career in the U.S. with steadfast determination, exhibiting the demeanor of a leader since he first stood on the pitcher’s mound. His story exemplifies the importance of unwavering commitment in chasing dreams. Without carefully planning his future since his junior high school days, he likely would not have made it to the major leagues in such a short period of time.
“I like playing baseball in Taiwan, but I like it even more in America. Here everyone stays so focused during a game, but always jokes with each other after a game,” said Taiwan pitcher Hu Chih-wei in June 2016 after he was named to the roster of the World Team for the 2016 All-Star Futures Game.
Defeating the Hitting Machine with Change-ups
Soon after signing with the Tampa Bay Rays, Hu made his debut in Major League Baseball April 24, 2017. He was on the pitcher’s mound in the eighth inning, faced with no outs and a runner on third base, as Kim Hyun-soo of the Baltimore Orioles came to the plate. Showing no signs of being new to the majors, Hu threw a change-up, his forte, causing the batter known in South Korea as the Hitting Machine to hit a weak infield ground ball and get thrown out.
During his debut appearance, Hu cut a firm and steady figure. He impressed with three strikeouts in nine pitches, which clocked speeds of up to 153 kilometers per hour. Stability and ability to control the ball are exactly Hu’s most admired characteristics as a baseball player.
Born in 1993, Hu started to develop an interest in baseball after playing catch with the son of one of his father’s friends during kindergarten. In grade one, he nagged this “big brother” to join the school baseball team with him. During summer vacation after grade two, he pleaded with his father, Hu Guo-chen, to let him join a baseball summer camp. The older Hu grudgingly gave his permission. “I thought he’d quit after a couple of days, but he was so happy every day, which I’d never expected. Baseball has been everything to him since then,” Hu Guo-chen said.
A precocious teenager, Hu believed playing baseball was his calling while still a junior high school student. He also realized that he would have to protect his arm if he wanted to have a long career in the sport. As a result of his efforts to care for his arm, he has never suffered injuries related to overpitching, even though he has been playing since grade school. After advancing to senior high school, he began pitching balls at amazing speeds of 148 kph, which further strengthened his resolve to take up the challenge of exploring the world of professional baseball overseas.
Around the same time, however, fate threw him a curveball when he hurt his arm severely after falling in the shower. What initially appeared to be mild muscle inflammation turned out to be a nagging ailment that lasted for a year.
A Crisis of Confidence
“When I pitched, my arm felt like it’d gotten an electric shock, or like it’d been pulled back by something. It felt so feeble. I couldn’t get back to my normal rhythm despite seeing so many doctors. My self-confidence was about to fall apart,” Hu said.
Luckily, Hu’s arm gradually recovered after acupuncture treatments, but the weakened muscles and psychological trauma caused by the injury affected the ball speed he was so proud of. It took another six months for him to fully regain his capabilities as a pitcher.
Rising above the nagging worry about his injury felt like breaking out of a cocoon and his pitching skills improved phenomenally. Oftentimes, he pitched at speeds of 150 kph. He performed so well for the national team at the Asian U18 Baseball Championship that the Japanese media labeled him a potential star.
Soon after Hu graduated from senior high school, his ambitions to play overseas began to materialize. In 2013, Hu, then barely 20 years old, was signed by the Minnesota Twins on a US$260,000 contract. His career as a professional baseball player had begun.
Compared with so many U.S. players, Hu is not remarkable when it comes to average pitching speed. However, thanks to his excellent ball control abilities, he has been positioned as a starting pitcher after overcoming the many tests put to him. In the past five years as a professional player in the U.S., Hu averaged only two walks for every nine innings. Capable of pitching two-seam fastballs, change-ups, curveballs and sliders, he can confuse the batter time and again.
All these pitching skills have been deliberately cultivated by Hu since he decided in the 10th grade to challenge himself to play professional baseball in the U.S.
“He clearly knows what kind of athlete he wants to be. Everything he does is carefully planned,” said Hu’s agent Chen De-lun, adding that the player typically thinks through plans step by step before seeking to execute them.
Everything in Pursuit of a Baseball Career
“He’s conscientious not just about his training program. He also keeps a detailed record of his daily life, including what he eats and when he eats his three meals a day. He also started doing tai chi in the U.S. because the practice relaxes his muscles and mind. This helped him advance quickly as a minor league player,” said Hu’s longtime American agent.
In the U.S., aside from improving their qualities as professional athletes, Taiwan baseball players face the challenge of cultural acclimatization. “I speak English as much as I can. If I make a mistake, my teammates correct me, which helps me improve,” Hu said. Thanks to his efforts to integrate into U.S. society, Hu was able to quickly adapt to a new environment after being traded from the Twins to the Tampa Bay Rays in July 2015. He was named the next year to the roster of the World Team for the 2016 All-Star Futures Game, making stable strides toward the major leagues.
Hu’s first professional contract in the U.S. does not compare with those of Wang Chien-ming and Kuo Hong-chih, Taiwan pitchers who have shined in the MLB. (Wang was signed for US$2.01 million and Kuo for US$1.25 million). But Hu entered the major leagues within five years of his stay in the U.S., whereas both Wang and Kuo achieved that goal in their sixth year in the country. The key to Hu’s early success was avoiding severe injuries. If he can keep his body in good condition, Hu believes he can stay in the major leagues longer than his two compatriots.
“The stability of an athlete’s performance is highly valued by U.S. professional baseball teams, which hope they can remain reliable in all situations. Hu does well in this respect and subsequently has earned recognition from coaches,” Chen said, noting that Hu was able to impress with steady performances and advance to the MLB quickly because he tried hard to integrate into not just a single team but the whole environment of U.S. professional baseball.
No one can access the world’s most prestigious baseball domain without possessing elite qualities. In fiercely competitive environments, it is the ability to recognize the small details that determines whether someone ends up as a success or failure. With his careful approach to planning and a solid rather than glamorous pitching style, Hu has a future in the MLB that, as baseball observers have noted, should not be underestimated.
[By Cheng Min-sheng / tr. by Oscar Chung]