Lamigo Monkeys To Post Wang Po-Jung

Taiwan’s Lamigo Monkeys will post top slugger Wang Po-Jung, as the CPBL Stats website has covered. He will become the first player posted from the Chinese Professional Baseball League, which is Taiwan’s top circuit.

Wang, who recently turned 25, has generally posted outlandish stats even by the standards of the hitter-friendly CPBL. This year, he’s slashing .351/.446/.547 over 534 plate appearances — good for what CPBL Stats tabulates to be a 151 wRC+. That’s actually down quite a bit from his absurd 2017 levels, though it’s still near the top of the table leaguewide.

To this point, if he’s known at all to North American fans, it’s likely owing to his epic bat flips. But there’s reason to believe that Wang could ultimately end up playing in the majors. As Sung Min Kim wrote earlier this year for Fangraphs, MLB scouts have already taken a look and some believe he may have a future at the game’s highest level as a corner oufielder.

Of course, it could well be that Wang will first head to Japan for some further seasoning. The formal posting process will be open to bids for posting fees from both MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball clubs. As the CPBL Stats site explains, the Taiwanese league recently amended its rules to allow players to reach posting eligibility after just three years of service — thus increasing the likelihood of retaining top domestic amateur talent on the front end. It is not immediately clear whether the CPBL posting process will echo the preexisting system (uncapped bidding, negotiation with one team) or the newer rules regime that applies to MLB transfers from the NPB and Korea Baseball Organization. Major league organizations would be limited by international spending restrictions, as Wang has not played the requisite six professional seasons to be exempt.