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First Look at Pirates’ Taiwanese Left-Hander Yao-Hsun Yang (Video)

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Last week the Pittsburgh Pirates signed left-handed pitcher Yao-Hsun Yang (pronounced Young) to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. I talked with Yang through a translator yesterday afternoon to learn a bit more about his pitches and his decision to come to the US.

“I had been playing in Japan for several years, and right now I want to go for a higher level, so I came here,” Yang said.

He had suffered two injuries last year, including an arm injury, but said he feels healthy now. As far as his pitches, he throws a low 90s fastball, along with a slider, curveball, and changeup. Yang said that his slider is his best pitch, and that he uses a split changeup in the game. As you can see by the video, he also has a delay in his windup, which is a timing thing that is very common for pitchers coming out of Asia.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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