Pirates’ Tsung-Che Cheng Hopes More Follow in His Footsteps After Making Debut

Tsung-Che Cheng can officially call himself a Major League Baseball player.

Cheng made his big-league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon after he was called up from Triple-A Indianapolis on Monday.

The 23-year-old started at shortstop and hit ninth in the batting order. He finished 0 for 2 and recorded a couple assists before he was pinch-hit for in the bottom of the eighth inning.

“It’s so unreal and it’s a very cool experience,” Cheng said through interpreter Haagen Tan. “I’ve played baseball for so long, and I hope I can play for much longer.”

Cheng’s promotion to the big leagues came after the Pirates placed Jared Triolo on the 10-day injured list with a bad back.

Though Cheng had a disappointing 2024 season with the Altoona Curve, he’s coming off an excellent spring training.

Cheng slashed .353/.400/.646 with three extra-base hits including a home run in 14 games in the Grapefruit League. His spring performance — on both sides of the ball — combined with the need to add another capable shortstop to the active roster, led to his early-season promotion.

“Just defensively, how dynamic he is. I think we saw full scope of it in Spring Training, regardless if he played second or short, he can really defend,” manager Derek Shelton said on why they promoted Cheng. “He’s played some third, a little bit in the minor leagues. With losing Triolo, we needed someone who could play short as the backup. We felt he fit us the best.”

In five minor-league seasons across five different levels, Cheng has hit .260/.359/.411 with 76 doubles, 18 home runs, 34 home runs, 194 RBIs and 92 stolen bases in 402 games.

The Pirates originally signed him out of Taiwan as an amateur free agent in 2020. There were a handful of Taiwanese fans with signs cheering Cheng on during his debut.

“Many thanks to those fans coming into the stadium today,” he said. “Baseball is kind of the No. 1 sport in Taiwan, so I’m very happy that those students — maybe some of them studying in Pittsburgh — can come to the stadium to watch me play.”

Cheng became the 18th player from Taiwan to appear in an MLB game and the first one this season.

The most notable Taiwanese baseball player is Chien-Ming Wang, who spent nine seasons in the big leagues, most notably with the New York Yankees from 2005-09. He led the league with 19 wins and finished second in the American League Cy Young race in 2006.

He’s also the third Taiwanese player to ever appear in a game for the Pirates.

Left-handed pitcher Wei-Chung Wang appeared in five games for the Pirates in 2019 and had a 2-0 record. Three years later, infielder Yu Chang played in 18 games with Pittsburgh and had seven hits including a double and a home run.

While Cheng is wishing for a longer career in Pittsburgh than either Wang or Chang, he’s also hoping to see many others from his home country do what he did.

“I just hope in the future there’s more Taiwanese players that can come here to play in the big leagues.”