The Fubon Guardians Acquire a Future MVP
Erick Leal, reminiscent of José de Paula, might just dominate the Taiwanese league
The Valencia Vortex has arrived, prepare to whiff.
Every few years, we see a sustained period of pitching hegemony in Taiwan. From 2020 to 2022, that accolade squarely went to CTBC Brothers ace José de Paula, who arrived as a 32-year-old foreign player signee. De Paula’s sheer mastery on the mound has since been eclipsed by other foreign pitchers, notably the Wei Chuan Dragons’ Drew Gagnon in 2023 and the Uni-President Lions’ Pedro Fernandez in 2025.1
This is very obviously an all-too-early coronation, but we may soon witness the arrival of another dominant, MVP-worthy pitcher: Erick Leal. Here is the overly optimistic case for Leal, who signed with the Fubon Guardians after being pursued by both the Guardians and the Wei Chuan Dragons this offseason.
Cubs teenage prospect
Leal, born in Valencia, Venezuela, was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks as a 17-year-old in 2012. After spending his first professional season in the Dominican Summer League, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. Baseball America had the below commentary:
… he stood out for his size, delivery, ability to throw strikes and spin a breaking ball. He progressed quickly and in some ways became a different pitcher than scouts had expected. He … [has] gotten more life on his fastball, which was 85-88 mph when he signed but now sits around 88-89. Leal’s best pitch is his mid-to-high 70s breaking ball, an advanced pitch for his age with a chance to be plus. He … [has] developed feel for [his changeup] as well, giving him the potential for three average or better pitches if his velocity continues to climb. He pitches inside, moves the ball around the zone and throws plenty of strikes, and he walked just 1.4 batters per nine innings last year.
With his two- and occasionally three-pitch arsenal, he rose through the ranks in the Cubs system, going from Rookie, Short-Season A, Low-A, High-A from 2013 to 2016 in a linear “one stop per season” fashion. Following the 2016 season with High-A Myrtle Beach, he underwent Tommy John and missed the entire 2017 season.
When he returned to Myrtle Beach in 2018, he was a new and improved pitcher, posting a 1.41 ERA and 61 strikeouts over 21 games. Scouts had pegged his changeup as a plus pitch and his best offering. He shined in the Arizona Fall League that year, showcasing a 74-75 mph curveball with big depth.
The de Paula parallels
In 2020, 32-year-old left-hander José de Paula arrived in Taiwan, bringing with him eight years of minor league experience and a brief stint in the majors in 2015. In his sole MLB appearance, he pitched 3.1 innings for the New York Yankees and gave up one run. That year, he finished with the Yankees’ Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre squad with a 2-3 record and 5.20 ERA.
De Paula had recently come off a decent season in the hitter-friendly Mexican League, achieving a 8.7 K/9 and 3.00 K/BB across two clubs in 2019. He translated that into complete dominance in Taiwan after signing with the CTBC Brothers. In 2020, admittedly a unique year in baseball2 and de Paula’s first in Taiwan, he led the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA—winning the coveted triple crown.3 The Dominican pitcher then repeated his dominance over the next two years, leading in strikeouts in both and in ERA and wins in each of the next two years.
Hear me out.4 Like de Paula, Erick Leal also has eight years of minor league experience plus a few years of Mexican League under his belt. His MiLB splits at least until 2019 suggest a history of being effective against left-handed hitters. That trend reversed this past season, but control was the broader issue as evidenced by concerning home run and walk rates.
Just as de Paula was excelling in the Taiwanese league, Leal was doing so in Mexico. In 2024, pitching for the Diablos Rojos, he posted a 2.91 ERA, 10.6 K/9, and nearly four strikeouts per walk. He helped his team win its first Mexican League title in a decade. In game two of that year’s Serie del Rey, Leal struck out eight over 6.1 innings in the combined shutout.
Leal was most recently a Yankees pitching prospect. He was invited to spring training this past season5 and had a decent year with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with some bright moments. He was named International League pitcher of the week in August, notably striking out 10 over a seven-inning shutout against Nashville.6 He posted a 9.5 K/9 for the season and elected free agency at the end of the year.
In his prime, de Paula’s arsenal included a four-seam fastball that sat at 90-93 mph (peaking at 96 mph), a plus curveball that generated whiff, and an off-speed pitch that forced ground balls. Leal’s arsenal in the Mexican League? You guessed it: a low-90s fastball, a plus curveball, and a changeup.
What to expect from Leal?
Erick Leal will be joining the Guardians at age 31, just a year younger than de Paula when he joined the Brothers. Unlike many of the more recent foreign pitcher signees in the league, he does not have NPB or KBO experience and reached Triple-A only in the last year without ever being called up to MLB.
This lack of “relevant” Asian league experience or MLB prestige has raised some questions as to why he was pursued by multiple CPBL teams. However, his progression in the Mexican League from 2021 to 2024 and and recent adjustments as a Yankees prospect make him an attractive candidate to bolster any CPBL rotation.7
Leal has added a high-70s sweeper and an effective splitter, the latter of which he first started throwing in June. He increasingly relied on the splitter over the course of 2025 and, like his curve and sweeper, it had a whiff rate in the high-30s. He is expected to use his balanced pitch mix to his advantage and generate a ton of strikeouts. If all goes well in his adjustment to the CPBL, he is poised to be one of the best foreign pitcher acquisitions this year.
This Leal hype may age poorly in just a few months. A major concern is that he has recently given up too many home runs (i.e., 2.0 home runs per nine innings at Triple-A, almost double the league average). However, his strikeout numbers speak for themselves, and if you are a Guardians fan or front office executive (or specifically Guardians assistant general manager Wei-Chu Lin),8 you are counting on every bit of this hype to come true.
Covering the bases
Slugger Li Lin finalized his eight-year contract extension with the Rakuten Monkeys. An annual international collegiate tournament featuring teams from the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan is set to begin in 2026, with the inaugural edition held in Taiwan. The Nippon-Ham Fighters and SoftBank Hawks have expressed they are supportive of their top Taiwanese pitchers (Ruei-Yang Gu Lin, Yi-Lei Sun, Jo-Hsi Hsu) playing for Taiwan in the World Baseball Classic.
Of course, the Lions were bestowed two pitchers with excellent seasons in Mario Sanchez and Ruei-Yang Gu Lin, who split the pitching awards. Gu Lin ultimately won the MVP for the year, the first domestic pitcher to do so in 18 years.
As you may recall, 2020 saw a global pandemic, and Taiwan became the first country to start its professional baseball season. The season opened with empty stadiums and robot fans. He was MVP in 2020 and 2021 and was named the pitcher in the league’s all-pro team, or “Best Ten” award, from 2020 to 2022.
The last pitcher before de Paula to win the “triple crown” was Fubon right-hander Mike Loree in 2017. Before that, Loree again in 2015, playing for the EDA Rhinos. Fubon retired Loree’s jersey number in 2023.
First, a caveat: A fairer comparison may arguably be fellow Venezuelan right-hander Nivaldo Rodríguez, who just re-signed with the CTBC Brothers for his third season in Taiwan. Rodríguez features a similar repertoire with the occasional slider in the mix. He was the 2025 ERA leader and runner-up in strikeouts, so not bad at all. But, he is no José de Paula, who is our provocative comparison case for Leal.
CTBC Brothers left-hander Brandon Leibrandt was also invited to the same spring training camp, and he signed with the Brothers mid-season.
The game was the first of the doubleheader (seven innings each), and Leal threw a two-hit complete game with no walks. He ultimately finished the season with a 5.61 ERA.
One other caveat is Leal’s lackluster performance in this year’s Venezuelan winter league, where he gave up 30 earned runs over 33.2 innings pitched for an 8.02 ERA. He posted a higher WHIP and ERA over the past two years of winter league play but seemed to be able to adjust to the regular Mexican League or MiLB seasons.
Lin was manager of the Brothers during their 2021-2022 championship years.