Ta-heng Chan was selected by the Black Forest Foxes in the seventh round of the 2104 draft. That was a strong draft, and T-Chan (as he was known) was considered to have a good shot at reaching the major leagues. He struggled in his first professional season but began pitching well the next year. In April 2106 the Baseball News Network named him the 75th best minor-league prospect in the IBL. T-Chan appeared to be on the fast track to The Show.
Then on 11 August 2106 he hurt his elbow and had to have surgery. It was 8 months before T-Chan returned to the mound, and when he did, the scouting reports gave him lower marks than before. His name no longer appeared on the list of 100 top prospects. Yet T-Chan managed to post excellent stats. In June 2107 he pitched so well in fact that he was named Double-A Pitcher of the Month. But the Black Forest scouts looked at their radar guns and shook their heads. In their view, T-Chan wasn't a serious big-league prospect any longer.
He was still in Double-A (and had never gotten to throw a pitch in the majors) when he completed his fifth year of minor-league service for Black Forest; he was now eligible for free agency. The Foxes made no effort to keep him, so T-Chan became a free agent in January 2109. He signed with the Paris organization, pitched briefly in Triple-A and then, the next thing he knew, he was in the major leagues. The Foxes scoffed; how was this rag-armed minor-league castoff going to survive in the bigs? Well, he not only survived, but he won 8 games and posted a respectable 3.92 ERA, a better ERA than Black Forest's #1 starter, Munsif Esam (whose ERA that season was 4.56).
Ah, but T-Chan had one more thing to show the Foxes. On 29 August 2110 the Black Forest squad traveled to Paris for a three-game series. The Foxes were in a tight pennant race with Rome, so every game was important to them. And since Paris was in last place, while the Foxes were leading the league in runs scored, it was expected that the Foxes would put up big numbers in Paris.
On the mound for Paris however was Ta-heng Chan, and he had other ideas. He pitched the game of his life, shutting out the Foxes on three hits. Paris cruised to a 4-0 victory, and T-Chan had clearly made his point to the team that had tossed him aside.
He can pitch.
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