Yi-Chung Liao

Yi-Chung Liao (廖乙忠)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 242 lb.

• School Kainan University
• High School Nichinan Gakuen High School

• Born November 2, 1995 in Taoyuan City Taiwan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yi-Chung Liao has pitched in the CPBL and for the Taiwanese national team.

He comes from a family of pitchers; his father pitched in the Taiwanese minors, his mother for the Taiwanese national softball team and his brother Jen-Lei Liao in the US minors. He went to Japan for high school, hoping to draw interest from teams there. He was undrafted and wound up back in Taiwan for college. He played for Taiwan in the 2016 Haarlem Baseball Week, losing to the Netherlands. In the 2018 World University Championship, he was 1-0 with no runs and two hits in six innings, fanning eight and beating Australia. Only Ka-Ho Sam Leung worked more shutout innings (6 2/3 IP). He went undrafted in Taiwan as well and signed with the Chinatrust Brothers as an undrafted free agent.

Liao posted a 3-5, 4.62 record in the 2019 CPBL but was the dominant pitcher in the Taiwanese minors (9-2, 1.55). He beat the Lamigo Monkeys for the Brothers' lone win in the 2019 Taiwan Series. He made the Taiwanese squad for the 2019 Premier 12 and got one start, against champion Japan. He retired Tetsuto Yamada and Ryosuke Kikuchi but walked Kensuke Kondo and allowed a triple to Seiya Suzuki and a single to Masataka Yoshida to fall in a 2-0 hole before getting Hayato Sakamoto. In the 2nd, he went 1-2-3 against Yoshihiro Maru, Tsubasa Aizawa and Nobuhiro Matsuda. Tsung-Hao Wang took over in the 3rd and Liao would take the loss.

The Taoyuan native slumped to 4-8 with a 6.96 ERA in 2020, and he bounced back as he had a 4.11 ERA in 16 games in 2021. Liao was turned into a full-time reliever in 2022, but his ERA was 5.00 in 20 games. He had a 3.25 ERA in 11 relief outings in 2023.

His repertoire includes a slider, curveball, forkball and fastball (peak 92 mph).