Fu-Te Ni

Fu-Te Ni
Detroit Tigers
Relief pitcher
Born: (1982-11-14) November 14, 1982 Pingtung County, Taiwan
Bats: Left Throws: Left
debut
June 29, 2009, for the Detroit Tigers
Career statistics (through 2010 season)
Win–loss record	0–1
Earned run average	4.33
Strikeouts	43
Teams
Chinatrust Whales (2007–2008) (CPBL) Detroit Tigers (2009–2010)

Fu-Te Ni (Chinese: 倪福德; pinyin: Ní Fúdé; Wade–Giles: Ni Fu-te; born November 14, 1982) is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher in the Detroit Tigers organization. Before joining the Tigers, Ni was a professional baseball player from Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). After his franchise, the Chinatrust Whales, disbanded on November 11, 2008, Ni signed a minor league contract with the Toledo Mud Hens, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tigers, in 2009.

Ni was called up in June 2009, becoming the sixth Taiwanese player to enter Major League Baseball. He is also the first player to transition from the CPBL to MLB. Ni made his major league debut on June 29, 2009 in relief of Rick Porcello against the Oakland Athletics. The first major league batter he faced was slugger Jason Giambi, and Ni struck him out.

CPBL fans used to call Ni Tu Di Gong, or Fu Teh Cheng Shen, because his given name is the same as the formal name for the Chinese God of the Land. Some called him Need Food because the pronunciation is similar to his name in Mandarin.

Taiwanese career

Ni was drafted by the CPBL team Chinatrust Whales in 2005. He signed with the team in early 2007 and played for the entire CPBL 2007 and 2008 seasons. In the two years Ni had a 12–24 record with seven holds, four saves and a 3.43 ERA in 267⅔ inning pitched. Ni won the CPBL strikeout Champion Award in 2008 season with 132 strikeouts. Ni also participated in the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

North American career

2009 season

Fu-Te Ni
Fu-Te Ni, 2009
Chinese	倪福德
Hanyu Pinyin	Ní Fúdé
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Ní Fúdé Wade–Giles Ni Fu-Te Southern Min Hokkien POJ Gê Hok-tek

Ni began his career in professional baseball in the United States in 2009. He was assigned to the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens of the International League. In 24 games with the Mud Hens, Ni went 3–0 with a 2.60 ERA, and 32 strikeouts. Ni was called up on June 28, 2009 to replace the injured Nate Robertson. After Chin-Feng Chen, Chin-hui Tsao, Chien-Ming Wang, Hong-Chih Kuo and Chin-lung Hu, Ni is the sixth Taiwanese player to enter Major League Baseball, and the fourth pitcher. Ni pitched 36 games with the Tigers in 2009 and compiled no wins or losses with a 2.61 ERA and 21 strikeouts.

2010 season

After accumulating a 6.65 ERA, Ni was optioned to the Toledo Mud Hens on June 30, 2010.

2011 season

In February 2011 the Tigers listed him as a non-roster invitee to spring training camp. On March 22, Fu-Te-Ni was assigned to the Detroit Tigers AAA affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
• Fu-Te Ni's online Album.

Awards
Preceded by Joey Dawley	CPBL Strikeout Champion Award 2008	Succeeded by incumbent