Taiwanese Pitcher Gu Lin Ruiyang Signs with Hokkaido Ham

▲ Gu Lin Rui Yang joined Japan’s Hokkaido Ham. (Photo / Qi Cheng International Sports Marketing)

Reporter Wang Zhenyu / Exclusive interview

Kubayashi Ruiyang, who is going to Japan to challenge for Nippon Professional Baseball, shared the process of Nippon Ham actively following him. The Ham Club not only prepared a detailed 72-page analysis report, but also showed sincerity in all aspects, making it full of expectations for the future. “ETtoday Sports Cloud” interviewed the 24-year-old pitcher exclusively and listened to him share his journey since entering professional football and his professional career in Japan.

Ham’s sincerity and sweetness touch people’s hearts

“I’ve had calls from Ham since May. It felt very unreal at the time.” Later, he changed his mind and focused on his performance during the season “I changed my goals and thought about getting a salary increase if I do well. Travel is abroad is another matter.”

Ham showed full sincerity in fighting for Gu Lin. In addition to analyzing his pitching strengths, other pitchers’ training schedules are also detailed for reference. More importantly, the team promised to give him a place to change, to collaborate with his personal trainer, and to take proper care of the daily life of his family, including his grandmother and wife.

During his site visit to Hokkaido’s home stadium, Furin described himself as “Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden. “Their facilities are excellent, including spas, training rooms, rooms where players can sleep and rest, as well as a special examination room and a small area for starting kittens. “

He specifically mentioned the intelligence analysis room, “It has at least 6 screens, just like a broadcast room, very professional.”

It is worth mentioning that Furin also humorously shared an interesting story about Ham International Minister Kenichi Iwamoto’s visit to the living room of a united home. “He took a picture of our living room. I laughed and said there was no need to take the picture, but the other person said it was very atmospheric and tasteful.”

Facing the changes in the environment, Gu Lin showed an open attitude, “I have been open to new things. The advice given by the coach is for your own good. The key is in communication. “confirm that everything can be discussed, if he encounters problems, he is willing to carry them together, which makes him more confident.

Ham has sent players out to the major leagues in the past, including Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish. Gu Lin can also follow the path of the two old men and challenge for the major leagues in the future. In this regard, he said that the main priority is to achieve good results in Japan “First think about how to focus on the court, including how to integrate into their environment .”

▲Scouts Pan Junrong and Gu Lin Ruiyang. (Photo / Clip from IG Pan Junrong)

The seeds of traveling outside the country came in the first year of high school, the scouts knew early on that they were outside the country.

The opportunity for Gu Lin Ruiyang’s enlightenment came from his grandfather and father In addition to paying attention to games when he was a child, he also used to play baseball at home. When he was a freshman in high school, Gu Lin came up with the idea of ​​traveling abroad. “There happened to be a lot of people going abroad, so I thought I wanted to do it too.”

Unified Lions scout Pan Junrong recalled the first time he saw Ku Lin Rui Yang pitch, “I remember it was when he was a freshman in high school. I looked at other players at another venue first. Later I heard that Ku Lin was going to launch. , and I wanted to go see it. “

Even though Gu Lin was rather thin at the time, Pan Junrong was interested in his pitching coordination. “Although he was skinny at the time, he had a good figure.

In the 2018 draft, the Uni-President Lions selected Gu Lin with the second overall pick. Dai Peifeng and Li Zhenchang, who had just returned from overseas, were favorites in the first round that year. “We are determined to recruit Ku Lin Rui Yang, and the instruction is to focus on pitchers with potential and high ceilings. According to the scouting report, he is positioned as the top two starters and must be as the main force of the team.”

Speaking about the stagnation of Gu Lin’s position in his senior year of high school, Pan Junrong said, “The main reason is that the frequency of playing games is not so normal, but he usually played again in the period later on. the team, he didn’t let him play in the first team immediately, and he will polish him in the second team Practice, so we can take this risk, just to support him.”

Gu Lin believes that the imbalance between technical ability and physical fitness at that time led to many injuries. “At that time, there were no professional weight trainers or physical training facilities, and people’s concepts were not so advanced. They just did whatever the coach said. A combination of these may have been the reason for a little stagnation.”

“He’s really self-disciplined and he’s still improving himself. You can tell from his figure that he’s getting stronger and stronger, not fat. You can tell he must have been working hard.” Pan Junrong said.

Regarding Gu Lin’s choice of the Japanese professional league, Pan Junrong analyzed that he was able to directly challenge the major leagues, “because many major league scouts said that he has a good chance But after he went to the Japanese professional league, he said. if the major leagues prove their strength, they only need to be here first.”

It took 7 years to train a local ace who is going to develop to a higher level. Pan Junrong said, “If he takes these years to cultivate locally, I think it will be worth it in terms of the final product, because he was only 18 years old at the time and he is not now only 24 years old. an age that is slowly reaching its peak.

▲ “Cake Manager” Lin Yueping choked up when talking about Lin Ruiyang’s growth. (Photo / Provided by Uni-President Lion)

Overcoming training differences with the team and performing ace

Gu Lin Ruiyang, who is about to challenge the Japanese professional team, looked back on his growth process in the Uni-President Lions and expressed special thanks to head coach Lin Yueping for cultivating .

“The most difficult time is when everyone questions your training and how serious you are.” Gu Lin also added, “Taiwanese football requires you to achieve results before you can do more ask. , in the end, it’s all yours. How many players died because of this?”

“It’s hard to just disappear in the process, to give up like this, because he doesn’t have a channel to express himself, so I think it’s really important to have more communication with the players.” He admitted that the early preparation of the team was for training. it made it difficult for him to change.

“I had reported that I could be injured, but when I was seriously injured, I was blamed and my external training was questioned. It was that’s the most uncomfortable time.” He took over as head coach, “I am very happy after Brother Pian became head coach, that I have more room for discussion and that everyone is willing to help.” could focus on improving himself. “The current results are not the result of a day or two, but of continuous persistence in doing the right things. “

However, the year before, Gu Lin had asked Mr. Cai to speak harsh words through the media. Looking back on that time, he once thought to himself, “Of course I am frustrated. How could I let him say such things? It means that the matter is really really.” This made Gu Lin change again, hoping to prove that he was able to survive this cycle. Among the changes is a change in eating habits “The body recovers faster and can maintain its condition better.”

▲ To Lin Ruiyang. (Photo / Qi Cheng International Sports Marketing)

Today’s professional football coaches still have outdated ideas and are unwilling to accept new information. They also force players to learn their own way, causing both parties to suffer. Gu Lin sternly said that the environment needs some changes. .”

“Taiwan’s football environment demands more only if you have results.” Gu Lin said sternly, “How many players will disappear in the process because there is no channel to express it. So it’s really important to have more communication with the players.”

Ham is just like that. Gu Lin revealed that when he went to Ham this time, the other party’s opinion was very open.

At the press conference of Ham joining the group, Lin Yueping choked with tears and showed that he was reluctant to “marry his daughter”. Seeing Mr. Pie shedding tears at the press conference, Gu Lin almost couldn’t help it.

When they were saying goodbye to the team, Su Tai’an had a long talk with Gu Lin and wished him well in his development in Japan. Gu Lin was concerned about his former teammates and took this opportunity to tell Su Tai’an that he hoped that part of the entry fee he received would be returned to his teammates itself, including upgrading some stadium hardware.

▲ Lin Yueping and Hideki Kuriyama. (Photo / Qi Cheng International Sports Marketing)