The China Post
Date: December 29, 2016
By: By Joseph Yeh, The China Post
Taiwanese baseball player Yang Dai-kang (陽岱鋼) on Wednesday pledged to do his best to usher the
Taiwanese baseball player Yang Dai-kang (陽岱鋼) waves to the media while wearing a Yomiuri Giants jersey during a press conference in Taipei on Wednesday. (CNA)
Yomiuri Giants to another championship title, after signing a five-year-contract with the Tokyo-based team last week.
In his first public appearance in Taiwan since the deal was announced on Dec. 19, Yang told reporters that helping his new team clinch the Japanese pro league title would be his top priority next season.
“I am honored to join a team with such a strong tradition and am ready to help it win another championship title,” Yang said, while Giants General Manager Tatsuyoshi Tsutsumi stood at his side.
Twenty-nine-year-old Yang played as a Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder for 11 years before he declared himself a free agent in November.
Yang, known as Yoh Daikan in Japan, said he had talked with three teams over the past month and ultimately decided to accept the Giants’ offer.
“I joined the Giants because Tsutsumi told me, ‘We want to win the championship and we cannot do this without you,'” he said.
The Giants, formed in 1934, are the oldest team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball Organization.
They are also the most successful team and have won the Japan Series 22 times, most recently in 2012. [FULL STORY]
