Di Chin

Early next week, my beloved Kansas City Royals, will begin their title defense, as the World Series Champions of 2015. As always, I am excited for the season to begin, and I am planning my viewing schedules accordingly. The Royals have been keeping one surprise from their fans this spring. Over the winter they signed a young pitcher from Taiwan, who just might become a sensation in the 2016 season.

The baseball media has been kept out of the loop regarding this young player. I only found out about him in a sort of as the old saying goes, "a round about way."

My old childhood friend and fellow NHS classmate, David Walker, left Nevada soon after we graduated. He went to work in Kansas City, where he has lived, worked, and raised his family ever since.

David was looking for a part-time job when he was first married, to supplement his income. A friend at his work told him that the newly franchised Kansas City Royals were hiring ushers for their home games.

Back then, the Royals were still playing their home games in the old Municipal Stadium, in downtown Kansas City. David continued to be an usher for the Royals, when they moved to the present day Truman Sports Complex. He has become the senior staff member, having served longer than any other stadium employee.

David and I have stayed in contact, and I often see him when I visit the stadium. Back in the early 80s, when I was doing my social worker training in the Jackson County Family Services offices, I used to go out to the stadium every night when the Royals were in town. I would buy a general admission ticket (they cost $1.25 back then), and David would come and find me about the second inning. He would take me to a great seat, where some season ticket holder had decided to not attend the game, and move me there.

Besides his close to 50 years working for the Royals, David may just be the single most loyal fan I have ever known. He lives and breathes Royal Blue! So it came as no surprise to me, when he told me a couple of months back, about this new Chinese pitching prospect, Di Chin.

David swore me to complete secrecy until now. It seems that the Royals did not have a completed contract with Chin, and until that was secured, other teams might try and swoop in to steal him away. Chin has been known to other major league scouts since he began pitching in the Taiwan Major Leagues back in 2012, but he had never shown any interest in coming to America before.

What changed for Di Chin, was the way in which the Royals played in the past two post seasons. Two appearances in successive World Series, garnered a lot of attention in other countries, including Taiwan.

Bruce Chen, a pitching fixture for the Royals for several years, was recently on a trip to Taiwan last December. Although not related, and their names are spelled differently, the two pitchers struck up a friendship when they met. Chen called Royals general manager, Dayton Moore, soon after their meeting. He told Moore, that Chin was very interested in trying to come to America and play baseball, and that his favorite team was the Royals.

The problem for Chin was that he was signed to a contract through the 2018 season with the Chinatrust Brothers Team, in Taichung City. He had no idea if he could get out of that contract.

Moore quietly went to work on the problem. Walker does not know any of the particulars of the deal, but it included getting Di Chin an American agent, and also a very large cash payment to the Chinatrust Brothers. All of this had to be done under the radar, and it was only finalized last week.

David told me that Chin arrived in the U.S. last Sunday, with his new agent Sidd Finch in tow. They were first flown to Vancouver, British Columbia, so as not to draw any attention on a regular commercial flight to a U.S. city. They were then flown directly to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, not far from the Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville Ark.

This made sense, as the current owner of the Royals, David Glass, is also the head of Wal-Mart, and the Royals were planning on having Chin do his initial workouts with the Royals AA Team, in Springdale, Ark. Only the manager of the AA team, and a couple of team officials, were privy to whom Chin really was. To the rest of the team, he was just to be another player, trying to break into American baseball.

Once the contract was completed (it should clear the league office sometime today), Chin will be brought out of hiding so to speak. At that point, the rest of baseball will likely scream "foul!"

In his three major league seasons in Taiwan, Chin has recorded a record of 66 wins against only 4 losses. He is rather tall for a Chinese player at 6 foot 5 inches and he looks more like a tight end for a football team in build.

Chin is notorious for his array of pitches. His fastball tops out in the upper 90 mph range, and he also possesses a filthy cutter and changeup. He has pinpoint control and walks only 1.3 batters per nine innings.

He is expected to be ready to move up to the big league club sometime in May, and the rest of the league will be on notice for sure. Only one real issue regarding this young pitcher should concern you Royal fans.

Di Chin and all of this springtime story is pure fiction. He and his agent "Sidd Finch," (a spoof name taken from the George Plimpton Sports Illustrated article of many years ago) do not exist. I sincerely apologize, you have been, "April Fooled!"