The World Baseball Classic is doesn’t take place until March of 2026, but the qualifying is on-going. Later this month in Taiwan teams from South Africa, Nicaragua, Spain, and Taiwan will play a round-robin tournament where the top team advances to the World Baseball Classic and then the teams that are 2nd and 3rd will play in a 1-game “playoff” with the winner also advancing to the World Baseball Classic in Tuscon, Arizona in March of next year.
Taiwan recently won the Premier12 tournament back in November, defeating Japan. This roster will look a little bit different than that one, and it’s going to include Cincinnati Reds prospect Sheng-En Lin. The Reds #15 rated prospect will be on the team as a pitcher for this event. Last season he played third base for the Arizona Complex League Reds and hit .308/.418/.419 in 49 games (all of his stats can be seen here). But when the season ended in late July the club put him on the mound for the bridge league and instructional league where he was impressive. The 19-year-old is expected to be a starting pitcher this season and spend his non-pitching days serving as a designated hitter.
When signed, some in the industry were surprised that Cincinnati planned to utilize him as a position player as it seemed that most believed he was a better pitching prospect. The Reds had ideas of using him as a 2-way player, but he didn’t pitch in games in either of his first two professional seasons (and he only played in nine games in total as a 17-year-old back in 2023 after signing with the team after he graduated from high school in Taiwan).
Unless you happened to be in Arizona last summer, this will likely be your first opportunity to see Sheng-En Lin take the mound. Games can be watched at WorldBaseballClassic.com, MLB.tv, and the World Baseball Classic pages on both Youtube and Facebook. Taiwan will play at 6am ET on February 21st, 6am ET on February 22nd, and 6am on February 23rd. It’s also possible that they could play on Tuesday February 25th at 6am ET if they are the 2nd or 3rd place team that will play in the final game of the tournament.