When Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi signed 34-year-old right-hander Chin-hui Tsao this past March, they knew that they were taking a risk; not just because the former major leaguer hadn’t pitched in the MLB since 2007 (as a Dodger), but because he had a lot of baggage.

Tsao, who was born in Hualien, Taiwan, spent one year pitching in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in 1999 before signing with the Colorado Rockies as a non-drafted free agent that same year. He made his MLB debut with the Rockies on July 25, 2003, for whom he pitched parts of three season.

After becoming a free agent following the 2006 season, Tsao was signed by the Dodgers on February 1, 2007, making his Dodgers debut on April 18, 2007. He would go on to appear in 21 total games with the Dodgers posting an 0-1 record and 4.38 ERA. The Dodgers elected not to re-sign him after the 2007 season and he again became a free agent. Although Tsao was signed by the Kansas City Royals on January 11, 2008, he did not pitch in the major leagues with them and was released May 31, 2008.

Tsao returned to Taiwan and pitched two seasons with the Brother Elephants of the CPBL, and that’s when his troubles began. It was revealed that he had agreed to throw (fix) two CPBL games for gamblers, for which he received a lifetime ban from pitching in the CPBL – hence that baggage thing. But even though Tsao was officially out of professional baseball since 2010, he continued to work out and stay in shape hoping that he would one day get another opportunity to play professionally again.

That opportunity came in January of 2015 when Tsao caught the eye of Friedman and Zaidi (through scouts) and the two Dodgers executives contacted Major League Baseball and inquired if they could pursue the hard-throwing reliever. After an independent MLB investigation revealed no wrongdoing by Tsao, the Dodgers signed him to a minor league contract.

Tsao appeared in six games with the Dodgers during spring training posting a 0-0 record and 6.97 ERA. He allowed eight earned runs on eight hits (one a home run) while striking out nine and walking four in his 10.1 innings of work. And although Tsao consistently hit 93-95-MPH with his fastball, he struggled a bit with his control.

Tsao began the 2015 season with the Dodgers Double-A Tulsa Drillers where he went 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA in four appearances. He struck out eight, walked four and allowed one home run in his five innings of work with the Drillers. He was promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City on April 24 where he appeared in 21 games posting a 2-1 record and 3.86 ERA.

On July 8 Tsao was called up to the Dodgers, thus fulfilling his dream of making it back to The Show. He made his first appearance on July 10 in the Dodgers 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers and, in fact, picked up the win. He allowed no runs on two hits with one strikeout in his one inning of work.

“I’d like to thank God and the team for this game today,” Tsao said through an interpreter after making his first major league appearance in eight years. “I’m very lucky to get this win, this feels like a dream.”

Even though Tsao has given up four hits in his three innings of work thus far, he has yet to allow a run. On Saturday night he varied his speed from an 85-MPH changeup to a 95-MPH fastball.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

On Saturday night Tsao was again called upon to pitch, this time going two innings in which he again did not allow a run on two hits with two strikeouts.

“He’s been good. He threw the ball good [on Friday night], he was able to give us two innings [on Saturday night],” said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly of Tsao. “He’s been good. He’s had fastball command on both sides of the plate, he shows you a couple different looks, he’s got a changeup, he’ll throw a cutter, a slider too. So he’s gets the ball on both sides of the plate, that’s what we talk about, you’re able to game plan a bit with him because he’s able to do some things with the ball.”

Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal agrees wholeheartedly with his manager on Tsao.

“I really like him. He throws strikes, he goes straight at guys, he keeps them off-balance with his off-speed and he comes back with a fastball,” Grandal said. “He’s a veteran, he knows where to throw. I’ve seen him a couple times in the video room kind of looking at video. That’s one of the things you want to see from your guys and I think he did a really good job.”

Like everyone else, Grandal is both surprised and impressed with Tsao, considering that he hasn’t pitched at baseball’s highest level in eight years.

“It’s really special,” said Grandal. “You’ve got these guys who are veterans who have pitched up here and they know what to do and they know they’ve got to stick to their strength, and he does that.”

By every indication, the gamble that Friedman and Zaidi took in signing Chin-hui Tsao (no pun intended) could prove to be one of their best off-season signings. But even if things do not work out for the extremely quiet 6′ 1″ / 210-pound right-hander, his journey had been a remarkable one at the very least.