CTBC Brothers' Stolen Base and Caught Stealing Performance Worst Among 6 Teams, Weaknesses Present Good Opportunity

(Central News Agency reporter Hsieh Ching-Wen, Taipei, 3rd) The CTBC Brothers of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) currently have the worst stolen base and caught stealing performance among the six teams this year. Head coach Keiichi Hirano admitted it is a big problem, but also stated that some issues have always existed, and now is a good opportunity and time for the team to identify these challenges and work together to improve.

Before today's game, the CTBC Brothers had only successfully stolen 5 bases this season, the fewest among the six teams. The Uni-President 7-ELEVEn Lions, who ranked second to last in stolen bases, had 10, while the Wei Chuan Dragons, with the most stolen bases, had 33. In terms of caught stealing percentage, the Brothers had been successfully stolen against 27 times and caught 6 runners, resulting in a caught stealing percentage of only 18.2%, also the worst among the six teams.

Brothers' head coach Keiichi Hirano admitted: "This is a big problem." The low number of stolen bases is mainly due to fast runners having fewer opportunities to get on base, and also problems with base-running techniques, which are challenges for the team. As for caught stealing, opponents' intentions to steal bases against the Brothers were noticeably high.

Hirano Keiichi stated that some problems have always existed, but may have been covered up previously. Now is a good opportunity for the team; problems are easily overlooked when winning, but now weaknesses are clearly exposed.

Hirano Keiichi also mentioned that during the off-season, catcher Kao Yu-Chieh went abroad for enhanced training, which also let the players know where they were lacking. Now is a good opportunity and timing, and he hopes everyone can take it to the next level. (Editor: Lin Shu-Hui) 1150503