TAIWAN – Taiwan, which will be looking to advance to the top eight in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, has released the preliminary selection of players for the tournament.

The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) announced a list of prospective players that included 11 who are playing for US teams and six playing for NPB clubs in Japan.

The 48 players will train from January 29 until February 7 in Taiwan, and will prepare for the WBC in Australia from February 7-20. The CPBL will cut down the lineup to 28 players on February 21 and will play a trio of exhibition games in Taiwan before departing for Japan on February 26 for the World Baseball Classic.

The 2009 World Baseball Classic will kick off on March 5 with the preliminaries being played in Tokyo, Toronto, Puerto Rico, Mexico City, San Diego and Miami.

The Taiwan National Team will battle China, Japan and South Korea in Pool A, and will play six games at the Tokyo Dome in Japan from March 5-9.

The finals will be held March 21-23 at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, California.

Taiwan Preliminary WBC Roster

Catchers (4): 1)Cheng-Da Wu (K. Rangers) 2)Chih-Kang Kao (Lions) 3)Yi-Feng Kuo (Elephants) 4)Kun-Seng Lin (no affiliation)

Infielders (12): 1)Chin-Lung Hu (Dodgers) 2)Chih-Hsien Chiang (Red Sox) 3)Yen-Wen Kuo (Reds) 4)Chung-Shou Yang (Fighters) 5)Tu-Hsuan Lee (Hawks) 6)Cheng-Min Peng (Elephants) 7)Sheng-Wei Wang (Elephants) 8)Chih-Hsiang Huang (drafted by Elephants) 9)Kuo-Ching Kao (Lions) 10)Han Lin (amateur) 11)Chia-Hsien Hsieh (drafted by Bulls) 12)Yi-Chuan Lin (amateur)

Outfielders (10): 1)Che-Hsuan Lin (Red Sox) 2)Kuo-Hui Lo (Mariners) 3)Wei-Chu Lin (H. Tigers) 4)Cheng-Wei Huang (Elephants) 5)Chih-Yuan Chen (Elephants) 6)Ssu-Chi Chou (drafted by Elephants) 7)Wu-Hsiung Pan (Lions) 8)Fu-Hao Liu (Lions) 9) Tai-Chi Kuo (Lions) 10)Chih-Yao Chan (drafted by Bears)

Pitchers (22): 1)Hong-Chih Kuo (Dodgers) 2)Ching-Lung Lo (Rockies) 3)Chen-Chang Lee (Indians) 4)Sung-Wei Tseng (Indians) 5)Chia-Jen Lo (Astros) 6)Hong-Wen Chen (Cubs) 7)Wei-Yin Chen (Dragons) 8)Yi-Jie Hsiao (H. Tigers) 9)Yu-Cheng Liao (Elephants) 10)Chin-Hui Tsao (drafted by Elephants) 11)Fu-Te Ni (drafted by the Elephants) 12)Wei-Lun Pan (Lions) 13)Yueh-Ping Lin (Lions) 14)Wei-Hua Lee (Lions) 15)Po-Hsuan Keng (drafted by Bears) 16)Ko-Chien Lin (drafted by Bulls) 17)Chien-Ming Chiang (drafted by Bulls) 18)Ying-Chieh Lin (drafted by Bulls) 19)Kai-Wen Cheng (amateur) 20)Yu-Chi Hsiao (amateur) 21)Pai-Yu Lin (amateur) 22)Si-Yo Wu (no affiliation)

Source: Taiwan Baseball

Tags: Taiwan, World Baseball Classic