{"id":513488,"date":"2026-01-10T16:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T16:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/513488\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T16:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T16:55:17","slug":"taiwans-cheng-tsung-che-claimed-by-tampa-bay-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/513488\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan\u2019s Cheng Tsung-che claimed by Tampa Bay Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cheng Tsung-che, who was designated for assignment by the MLB\u2019s Pittsburgh Pirates in the middle of last month, has been claimed off waivers by the Tampa Bay Rays.<\/p>\n<p>The Rays\u2019 decision to add Cheng to their 40-man roster is a positive turn for the 24-year-old middle infielder, who had been designated for assignment just one week after getting married.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh designated Cheng and outfielder Marco Luciano for assignment following a three-team trade with the Rays and the Houston Astros that brought in Jake Mangum, Brandon Lowe and Mason Montgomery.<\/p>\n<p>                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/P06-260110-318.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo: Charles LeClaire \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>The move could affect Cheng\u2019s participation in the World Baseball Classic in March. Cheng has previously expressed willingness to play for Taiwan and had received approval from the Pirates, but his availability now depends on the Rays\u2019 plans.<\/p>\n<p>Ranked as the Pirates\u2019 No. 9 prospect in 2024, Cheng is known for his fielding prowess at second base and shortstop. After signing with Pittsburgh in July 2019, his MLB debut was delayed for nearly two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Cheng was called up to the major leagues in early April last year after just 11 games at the Triple-A level, following injuries to second baseman Nick Gonzales and utility player Jared Triolo.<\/p>\n<p>He made his MLB debut on April 9, but went hitless in seven at-bats across three games before being optioned back to Triple-A for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n<p>In 107 Triple-A games last year, Cheng batted .207 with a .307 on-base percentage, recording one home run and 36 RBIs. He struck out 99 times and stole 18 bases at a 72 percent success rate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cheng Tsung-che, who was designated for assignment by the MLB\u2019s Pittsburgh Pirates in the middle of last month,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,4,297,2550,68,2551,2549,7109,7108],"class_list":{"0":"post-513488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-rays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-rays","11":"tag-tampa-bay","12":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","13":"tag-tampabay","14":"tag-tampabayrays","15":"tag-the-taipei-times","16":"tag-7108"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115871857319586433","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}