Liao Jen-lei (; born 30 August 1993) is a Taiwanese baseball pitcher. He has played in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

for the

Saitama Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, wh ...

Early life

Liao was born in

Taoyuan, Taiwan Taoyuan () is a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City to the north-east, Yilan County to the south-east, and Hsinchu County to the south-west. Taoyuan District ...

on 30 August 1993, to parents who played baseball and softball. He attended in Japan, and graduated from

Kainan University Kainan University (KNU; ) is a private university located near Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan. KNU was founded as Kainan Commercial and Technical High School in 1917. In January 1990, the school was upgraded to Kainan Institute of Techno ...

in his hometown of Taoyuan.

Career

Liao signed with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

in January 2014. He pitched for the

Gulf Coast Pirates The Florida Complex League Pirates are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Pirates. The team plays its h ...

, primarily as a reliever, for two seasons and was subsequently released. While in the Pirates organization, Liao appeared in the

2015 Asian Baseball Championship The 2015 Asian Baseball Championship was an international baseball competition that was held in Taichung, Taiwan from September 16–20, 2015. It was the 27th edition of the tournament. South Korea won the title. Japan previously won five strai ...

as a member of the

Chinese Taipei national baseball team The Chinese Taipei baseball team () is the national men's baseball team of the Republic of China (Taiwan). It is governed by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association. The team is ranked second in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederat ...

. Following his release, Liao returned to Japan, where he had attended high school, and was selected by the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

in the seventh round of the 2016

draft. Because Liao had pitched in Minor League Baseball, the Giants filed a petition for him to gain rookie status, which was granted in January 2017. Liao spent two years pitching with the Giants affiliate in the Eastern League. He was placed on the Chinese Taipei preliminary roster for the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

, but withdrew from the competition. Liao signed with the

in December 2018. Liao's signing was formally announced by the team in January 2019. Liao was promoted to the first team on 31 March 2019, and debuted on 3 April 2019. Liao returned to his native Taiwan in 2019 and appeared in the

Asia Winter Baseball League The Asia Winter Baseball League is a professional baseball league hosted in Taiwan with 2012 as its inaugural season. Making use of the warm and dry winter climate in West Taiwan, the short term league aims to offer young baseball players addition ...

. The next season, he trained with the

Chinatrust Brothers The CTBC Brothers () or simply Brothers are a professional baseball team in Taiwan. The team was originally established as an amateur team in 1984 by the Brother Hotel located in Taipei City, and later joined the Chinese Professional Baseball Leagu ...

farm team. He declared for the mid-season

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

draft that year. He was selected by the

Wei Chuan Dragons The Wei Chuan Dragons () are a professional baseball team in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) that originally existed between 1990 and 1999. In 2019, negotiations regarding the franchise's revival and return to the CPBL took ...

as a bonus pick.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liao, Jen-lei 1993 births Living people Saitama Seibu Lions players Taiwanese expatriate baseball players in Japan Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Taoyuan City Gulf Coast Pirates players Taiwanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Wei Chuan Dragons players