Taiwan defeated Japan, the defending champion, in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 final held at Tokyo Dome, Japan, on April 24. Taiwan has captured South Korea in the group league and Japan in the final, heralding the levelling of Asian baseball. It was a painful outcome for South Korea and Japan, the "two strongest teams" in Asia, which have claimed themselves to be the Asian leaders. Meanwhile, the implementation of the Asian quarter will be discussed at the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) Executive Committee (chief meeting) on the 3rd.메이저놀이터

In addition to the existing quota of foreign players (three per team), the Asian quarter allows additional players from Asia to be registered. The Asian quarter is already in effect in the professional soccer team (2009), the professional basketball team (2020-2021) and the professional volleyball team (2023-2024). The discussion of the Asian quarter in the KBO League seems to be due to improved performance and expensive free agents. Australia is the core part of the Asian quarter, and it is also important how players from Japan and Taiwan will be accepted.

Japan emerged as a world-class baseball powerhouse by beating the U.S. at the World Baseball Classic held last year. Taiwan was rated below Korea and Japan, but it has seen its skills improve significantly by sending its own players to the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB). Against this backdrop, it seems that greater synergy effect can be expected if the Japanese professional baseball (NPB) and the Taiwanese professional baseball (CPBL) are linked to the Asian quarter.

The KBO League is subject to a ransom limit of 1 million dollars for new foreign players. Despite the cap, one of the reasons why a large number of high-quality foreign players have recently been introduced is because of the "success case." As Eric Pedi (currently St. Louis Cardinals), a former NC Dinos player who won the MVP of the 2023 season, returns to the MLB with good performance in the KBO League, the burden on players who choose to go to Korea seems to have been greatly reduced. Recently, Noah Syndergaard (59 wins in MLB), once known as a 100-mile (160.9 km/h) pitcher, drew attention when he said he would play in Korea or Japan.

Players who have played in Japan's or Korean national leagues may play in other countries in the Asian quarter before returning to Taiwan. Taiwanese players have another option other than the U.S., Japan or Korea. Korea, Japan and Taiwan have been in competition for quite a long time, representing Asian baseball. As a result, fans' interest is high. The KBO League has already proven its popularity when Taiwanese and Japanese players, including Wang Wei-jung (then NC Dinos) in 2018 and Keisho Shirakawa (then SSG Landers→ Doosan Bears) last year, played in the Asian quarter.

From the late 1990s to the early 2010s, KBO league players were actively engaged in NPB. However, it has become less common recently. If the NPB creates an Asian quarter, KBO league players may take on a new challenge through posting system (closed competitive bidding) or FA.

Some say that the door should be opened by taking lessons from the failure of the Premier 12 tournament (the elimination of the group league). There are opinions that the so-called "two-year grace period" should be abolished or the number of U.S. minor league players should be increased, which stipulates that "a player who has signed a player contract with a foreign professional club without attending high school or registering as a member of a Korean professional club in Korea cannot sign a player contract with a KBO club for two years from the date the player contract ends." This argument has a point, but I think there is a need for more active overseas exchanges.