International Red Sox: Volume #2
A status update on ex-Red Sox playing pro baseball overseas
After what has been an interesting past two weeks for the Red Sox, by firing most of the coaching staff, namely manager Alex Cora after a 17-1 win, and then winning the series, the Red Sox have reverted to their ways and are showing signs of major dysfunction. Internationally, we were treated to a dry end of mid-May, but major things happened as we went into May. (Author’s Note: Statistics are current as of 5/4/2026.)
#1 Yu Chang (Fubon Guardians, CPBL)
It was a rough first week for Chang, as the national hero had barely played for the Fubon Guardians, which was a shock considering how well he played the week before, when he got up to a .381 batting average with an OPS just over 1.000.
Since his 3/4 game on April 15th, it’s all gone downhill for him. In the last week, he’s only played 4 games, and has gone 1/16 with a double and 4 strikeouts in that span. His batting average has dropped over 70 points, and is now down to .315, which is still impressive. Because of the hole in his bat two weeks ago, he was slashing .315/.377/.481 over 14 games.
The national hero was able to turn it around in the past week, as he had three two-hit games, and is currently on a two-game hitting streak. In that red-hot span, he had a massive game against the Wei Chuan Dragons on May 2nd, as he went 2-4 with 2 solo homers. Through 19 games, he is batting .343 with 4 homers and a .984 OPS, which is just below his career high in the CPBL.
#2 Bobby Dalbec (Yomiuri Giants, NPB)
We got to see something out of Bobby Dalbec that we haven’t seen in a while, him playing the hot corner, but it was a typical week (4/20—4/26) for the ex-Sox slugger, as on Wednesday, he hit his 6th home run of the year, which put him in 3rd for home runs this season. The walks also ticked up, with one on Friday and another on Saturday. However, he only collected two hits, with the homer on Wednesday, and a single on Sunday, while the strikeouts remained ever-present, with 6 on the week, including multiple 2-strikeout games. That left his OBP hovering above the .300 mark, but with a good slugging percentage, which is a lot closer to the Dalbec Red Sox fans are familiar with.
As we closed into May, Dalbec was struggling to find hits, as he walked a couple of times, but otherwise struck out frequently. But we hit May, and Dalbec started the month out hot, as he went 1-3 against Hanshin in typical Dalbec fashion, as he hit his 7th longball of the year, with a strikeout and walk. Then, on Saturday, a rarity occured, as Dalbec went 3-3 with a walk, as it’s rare for Dalbec to not strike out.
With this hot streak, Bobby is now batting .255/.351/.531 through 28 games on the 2026 season.
#3 Bryan Mata (Yomiuri Giants, NPB)
Bryan Mata had his 3rd start as a Giant, and it was not pretty. Command of his power stuff was always an issue, which is why he’s in Japan in the first place. That exact issue would come back to bite him on Saturday, as he couldn’t even make it 3 innings. Thankfully for the Giants, they won 7-2, in a game where Bobby Dalbec went 1-4 with a walk. In this outing, Mata pitched 2.2 innings, walking 4, allowing 2 hits, striking out 3, and giving up 2 runs.
Luckily for Mata, he hasn’t allowed much contact in the air, so his FIP is sitting at a respectable 2.93. The walks remain an issue, as that has put his WHIP at 1.46. Because of this rough outing, it makes Mata the worst pitcher on the Giants in ERA, with a 3.29, sitting behind ex-top pitching prospect Forrest Whitley, who is at a 3. In other words, for a pitcher who has control problems and is trying to make it back to affiliated baseball, he needs to be more competitive with his pitches and make the strike-throwing passable. However, he does have time on his side, as we aren’t even into May quite yet.
#4 Darwinzon Hernandez (Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, NPB)
After not pitching 2 weeks ago, most likely due to the absurd luck Hernandez has received, by way of getting out of all jams possible, he has finally pitched again, and the wheels have started to fall off the car, as on Tuesday, he only recorded one out over 4 batters, surrendering 2 hits, walking 1, and striking out one.
It’s been a bad season from the mistake-prone righty, as although Hernandez is sporting an ERA of 2 over 9 innings, he’s given up 9 hits and 8 walks. That leads to a disastrous 6.63 FIP and 1.89 WHIP, suggesting that it’s only going to get worse.
#5 Tzu-Wei Lin (Rakuten Monkeys, CPBL)
Tzu-Wei Lin had a solid first week, as coming into this, he was on a hot stretch, where he had three straight games with hits, which was good for a player who hadn’t really hit at any level of pro baseball. He continued that streak, getting 2 hits, with a double on the 29th, which put his batting average at .294, which was his second-highest average at any point this season.
This past week was a different story entirely, as over three games, he went 1/12, with a lone single. That further adds to the theme of his season, which has had some hot streaks and has gone completely cold otherwise. As he’s yet to have truly shown out in Taiwan, he’s currently slashing .269/.326/.423 over 22 games, with a single long bomb.