Well, hello to you all. I am coming to you from the other side of the world. I am playing professional baseball in Taiwan this year, and hope to share a little different baseball perspective with you.

Let me first introduce myself. I was born and raised in eastern Iowa. I attended Beckman High Dyersville, before moving on to the University of Northern Iowa. I was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 12^th round in 2001, and over the last eight years have been blessed to play this game at the professional level in the U.S. With both the Florida Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers, I played in Triple-A for the last four years. I also got the chance to play for Team USA and helped the team earn a spot in the 2008 Olympics.

That all brings me to the present, playing in the big leagues here in Taiwan (the Chinese Professional Baseball League).

As I write this, I have just finished my first spring training in Taiwan. I’ve been playing baseball for a long time, and yet I had no idea what to expect over here. I arrived in Taiwan in late February, feeling excited and ready to go. My team here is called the Brother Elephants. Each team is named after its sponsor. Our sponsor is a family-owned hotel chain here on the island. We have two other Americans on my team, Danny Core, who played four years in the minors, and Matt Perisho, who has been in the game for a long time. He has spent parts of five seasons in the big leagues, and has 10 years experience overall playing at the pro level.

Practices here begin just like they do in the States. We start our day with stretches. The philosophy over here seems to be, “More is better”. I’m used to stretching for about 15 minutes, but here our team stretches last from 40 to 60 minutes. We do everything from jumping jacks, to jump rope, to running, and every static stretch you can name. After it has been determined that we are good and limber, it’s time to throw.

For the past eight years, I had always been given a very structured, step-by-step throwing program. Not here. Here we play catch anywhere from 30 minutes to much longer. The more I think about it, we do not play enough catch back home. Playing catch is a great way to leacrn and keep your basic fundamentals in shape. Here they let you pick how long and what distance you want to toss the ball from, whereas in the U.S. you’re told where to stand and how long to throw.

Most of the players elect to go back to 300 feet to build up their arm strength and stamina. In contrast, it seems that players in the States practice at 40 percent, and yet in game action we’re required to play all-out at 100 percent. I’m sure that is why so many young arms back home end up getting hurt. Here, with the “more is better” campaign, we practice at closer to 100 percent and it seems the more we throw, the better shape our arms are in for the season.

While they pretty much leave everything up to you, as long as you keep in mind that “more is better”, you end up doing whatever you think needs to be done in order to get your work out in and maintain your arm. My first bullpen session was nice and easy, but ended up being 70 pitches. In the States, I would usually throw only 30 pitches.

After all the pens are thrown, it’s time to run. The type of running we do here brings me back to my college days at Northern Iowa. Everything we do is timed, and it makes everyone work their hardest. And just when you think you’re done, they line you up again. At first, I hated it but eventually I appreciated the extra push.

Now it’s game time; and that’s where the big difference in the game played here vs. that played in the U.S. really shows.

Everywhere I’ve played before, teams have a true home field. Well, not us. The teams here share fields. There are a total of eight stadiums in Taiwan that we play in, and teams travel to all of the cities and take turns having the “home-field” advantage on a rotational basis. This way, fans all over Taiwan can see their favorite team play without always having to make a big trip. Essentially, the team comes to you. Isn’t that a nice concept?

We can be the home team one day and the visiting team the next day, and still play at the same place—depending on whose turn it is. But everywhere we go here, no matter if we’re home or visitors, we have great fan support. Each team even has a band that follows it around and leads the fans with chants and cheers the entire game. They bang on their drums continuously, and also sound off horns when you’re pitching. It is definitely a little different, and the players each have their own little song to make it interesting.

Our season starts on Saturday, and I am all ready to go. I was informed that I would pitch the third game of the season. Over the course of the 2009 season, I hope to file periodic updates to keep fans in the U.S. updated on my personal experience here in the big leagues in Taiwan. Yet I’ve already discovered that, no matter where you are from or what language you speak, when you get out on that field, baseball is baseball. And everyday I am thankful that I still have an opportunity—whether it’s in the States or Taiwan—to play this wonderful game.