Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions pitcher Hu Chih-wei (???) is set to start on the mound in Taiwan's World Baseball Classic (WBC) Pool A opener against Panama Wednesday.
The 29-year-old Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) right-hander will face off against Humberto Mejia on the mound in Wednesday's game.
The announcement came as little surprise as Hu was widely regarded as the pitcher in the best condition in the Taiwan team. He yielded no runs in his outings in the Taiwan team's WBC warm-up games on Feb. 27 and Monday through 5.1 innings combined.
"I'm in the best condition for the game now, body and soul, and I have been studying the Panama team before," Hu said.
Though he was not quite familiar with his opponents Wednesday, Hu said he had spoken with CPBL teammates who faced Panama in a warmup game on March 5.
According to Lin Yueh-ping (???), Hu's manager in the national team and the Lions, the team is in very good condition now, but it still has to deal with the Panamanian batters cautiously, especially Christian Bethoancourt and Jonathan Arauz, both active MLB players.
Meanwhile, Mejia said he was confident in Wednesday's game as he has been preparing since Jan. 14.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel