Jyun Yue Tseng’s latest move out of Taiwan has put him on the radar of every MLB club, and maybe none more naturally than Cleveland.
On Sunday, the Fubon Guardians officially posted the longtime reliever through the international window, opening the door for major league teams to pursue him. For a club like the Cleveland Guardians, which has built a reputation around squeezing value out of pitchers with unusual traits, Tseng looks like the kind of arm that could fit right into the machine.
Tseng has spent the last six seasons as a weapon for Fubon in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. Over 287 career appearances with the club, he put up a 2.36 ERA and piled up 91 saves. This past season, he struck out 65 batters and collected 25 saves in 48 games for a Dragons team that finished 59-61 and was managed by former Guardians player Yu Chang.
The numbers jump off the page, but the profile comes with one obvious wrinkle: Tseng stands just 5-foot-8. That kind of frame can make teams hesitate, even if the stuff plays.
In Tseng’s case, it clearly does. His fastball has touched around 99 miles per hour earlier in his career and still sits around 96 mph on average.
He’s also shown he can handle bigger stages. In the World Baseball Classic, Tseng threw two scoreless innings for Chinese Taipei and finished off the team’s win over South Korea in a game that featured Stuart Fairchild’s go-ahead home run.
Tseng actually went through international free agency in 2023, but no team claimed him and he stayed with Fubon. This time around, that outcome seems less likely, especially with the possibility that he could head to Japan if he goes unclaimed by an MLB club.
There’s also the cost of doing business. His posting comes with the usual fee structure tied to international signings: 20% of the first $25 million of a deal, 17.5% of the next $25 million and 15% beyond $50 million. If he were to sign a minor league deal, the fee would be 25% of the player’s signing bonus.
Cleveland’s track record with unconventional pitchers makes Tseng an easy name to connect to the organization. Still, the fit may be more theoretical than realistic, since the Guardians typically don’t shop in the international posting market and may not want to take on the fee attached to his rights.
If Tseng does make it to the United States and later reaches free agency, though, he could be exactly the kind of pitcher the Guardians love to turn into something more.
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