Two months removed from going undrafted in the 2018 MLB Draft, it appears
Luke Heimlich has made no headway in becoming a professional baseball player
in America, and will head overseas.
The recent Oregon State University graduate was one of the best pitchers in
college baseball last year, but he’s also a convicted child molester, which
has deterred MLB teams from adding him to their roster.
In early 2017, a story in The Oregonian revealed Heimlich pleaded guilty to
molesting his 6-year-old niece when he was 15. He was not drafted through all
40 rounds of both last year and this year’s draft, despite having
early-round potential.
Since his conviction came to light, Heimlich has insisted that he is
innocent, and took poor legal advice in the name of simplifying matters for
his family.
Rumors that Major League teams, including the Kansas City Royals and
Baltimore Orioles, were considering signing as a free agent him have cropped
up since, to no avail. A number of team executives told Yahoo Sports that
they were worried about the potential for backlash, despite consulting with
MLB officials on how best to address the situation.
Heimlich to play in Chinese League?
Tuesday, the Lamigo Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League
announced that they signed Heimlich, and that he is already in Taiwan, where
the league is based.
The announcement does not make reference to his criminal record. However, the
post has drawn a lot of mixed attention, amassing nearly 1000 comments nine
hours after it was posted. Many of the comments commend the team on signing a
top talent, despite his unsavory moral history. However, it’s also clear
that some of the fans don’t know about that history, as in the following
exchange:
The Chinese Professional Baseball League is home to the highest level of
players in Taiwan, and includes foreign players from Japan and minor-league
players from MLB. Players on average make between $5,000 and $12,000 a month,
but foreign players specifically have been known to make substantially more.
However, the league has had a number of game-fixing and gambling scandals
over the past two decades that have lowered its credibility.
Will the CPBL allow Heimlich to play?
According to reports the team or league have yet to confirm, Heimlich’s deal
with the Monkeys may be blocked due to his criminal record.
The veto would be unsurprising, as last year, the Chinatrust Brothers
(another CPBL team) signed American minor leaguer Kyle Simon to a contract,
but it was quickly voided before his arrival due to his history of drug abuse.
The Monkeys also have a history of coming down strong on sex abuse charges;
in 2017, the team allegedly terminated the contract of 2013 Rookie of the
Year Chiu-Yen Kuo after he faced attempted rape charges.
https://goo.gl/DfpyRV
新聞內容和台灣報的基本上差不多....
不過這則新聞下面有328條回覆
看討論感覺米國那的風向和台灣這相反