Chen Muheng will start against SoftBank tomorrow, and the first team in Japan will be on the board for the first time

Chen Muheng. (File photo, taken by reporter Lin Zhengkun)

[Sports Center/Comprehensive Report] The Orix Bulls will face the Pacific League leader SoftBank Hawks at home at Kyocera Dome in Osaka at 5 p.m. Taiwan time tomorrow. Earlier, the Nippon Football Association’s official website announced that the two teams will start. Orix Taiwan’s 20-year-old star Chen Muheng will serve as the starting pitcher. This will be Chen Muheng’s first appearance in Japan.

Chen Muheng is the ace pitcher of the Taiwan team in the 2024 U18 Asian Youth Baseball Championship. He joined ORIX as a development player in October of that year. Chen Muheng was upgraded from a development player to a controlled player on July 30 this year, with the nickname 92.

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This season is Chen Muheng's second season in Japan. This year, he played 7 games in the second division, started 4 of them, and won 2. He pitched 23 innings, struck out 13 times, gave up 15 walks, and hit 2 balls. His batting average was 0.130, and his on-base percentage (WHIP) per inning was 1.09. The fastest ball speed he ever threw was 152 kilometers. He was only 1 kilometer away from the fastest ball speed in his career of 153 kilometers.

Tomorrow, Chen Muheng will face a strong attack from many of SoftBank's main players, including Kurihara Reiya, who has scored 39 home runs and 119 RBIs this season and is the only Western League offensive double champion, as well as MVP stars Kondo Kensuke, Yanagida Yuki and other players. The SoftBank team scored 668 points and the team batting average was 0.260, both of which were the best among the 12 full-time professional teams.

SoftBank, which has already won the Western League title a few days ago, will launch left-hander Haru Matsumoto as the starter tomorrow. In 20 games this season, it has 11 wins and 3 losses, with an ERA of 2.91.

In addition, this game is also the retirement game of Orix's 42-year-old veteran right-hander Yoshihisa Hirano.