"Wang Yancheng of Hanwha, the right person to fill the gap with Phonwa → the most promising player in the 亞 quarter." Taiwanese media pride

*This content was translated by AI.

Taiwanese media showed pride in "Asian Quarter" left-hander Wang Yancheng (25), who will play in the 2026 season in the Hanwha Eagles uniform. He pointed out that Cody Ponce (32, Toronto Blue Jays) and Ryan Weiss (30, Houston Astros), who left for the Major League, are the right candidates to fill the void. As there is a variable for the transfer of WBC (World Baseball Classic) in March, Hanwha is expected to play as an axis of its starting rotation.

Taiwan's media Free Credit (LTN) quoted a Japanese media report on the 6th, saying, "Of the six players from the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) who chose to go to Korea, Wang Yancheng should be the most paid attention."

Hanwha officially announced on November 13 last year that it signed Wang Yancheng (180cm, 82kg), a former member of the NPB Rakuten Golden Eagles, for an annual salary of $100,000 as an Asian quarter player. According to the Hanwha team, it has been working hard to recruit Wang Yancheng since February. As a result, he judged Wang Yancheng as the best player among many options and won the recruitment match after competition from multiple clubs.

"Wang Yancheng was very likely to compete with prospects for the fifth starting position in Hanwha or play as a long relief," said Liberty Sinbo. However, as Hanwha pitchers have to play in the WBC national team, the possibility of joining the starting rotation of Hanwha is increasing from the beginning of the season. As a result, it is considered a key reinforcement of Hanwha's power this season," he wrote.

"The Japanese media also sees Wang Yancheng as the most notable pitcher in the Asian quarter market this offseason. In particular, he received a lot of praise for the way his speed did not drop even after throwing more than 100 pitches. The Hanwha team also believes that Wang Yancheng will be able to fill the gap in the starting pitching staff," he added.

In fact, Hanwha actually benefited a lot from the strong one-two punch of Ponce and Weiss in the 2025 season. Ponce won 17-1 and Weiss won 16-5 and won 34 games. Ponce had a 1.89 ERA for the season and Weiss was also very compliant with 2.87. In the inning, Ponce was also responsible for 180 ⅔ innings and Weiss was responsible for 178 ⅔ innings. In the end, Ponce and Weiss moved to a major league club side by side. It is a situation in which the gap between 34 wins and 358 innings has to be filled.

Wang Yancheng is also known to have been praised by Ponce. Ponce and Wang Yancheng played together for the NPB Rakuten Golden Eagles. Although Wang Yancheng did not receive a first-team call-up, he seems to have left a compliment because he ate a bowl of rice. The Free Sinbo also mentioned this point, saying, "Ponse lavished praise on Wang Yancheng. He said, "I highly appreciate him as a pitcher with a natural talent as well as a serious and sincere attitude in everything, and predicted a high possibility of success."

In the end, Wang Yancheng's success or failure seems to depend on his adaptation at the beginning of the season. Attention is focusing on whether Wang Yancheng, the first contractor of the historical KBO League's "Asia Quarter," will be able to lead Hanwha's mound as the Taiwanese media boasted.

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*This content was translated by AI.