MLB's China development centers paying dividends

The arrival of Chinese players in the American minor leagues is not a novelty, but the process of being developed in China and moving directly to a Major League franchise is a new development somewhat inconceivable 10 years ago.

The first steps of China's developing relationship with baseball came in the 1990s and early 2000s as a number of players made appearances for Japanese teams, notably Lv Jiangang who signed for the Chunichi Dragons and Zhu Dawei who played for the Seibu Lions in 2006.

Baseball began to be aired on CCTV and popularity mounted sufficiently to prompt the MLB foray into East China to establish these development bases. With the league suddenly interested in the country, it was perhaps to be expected that the New York Yankees, the league's most iconic and arguably profit oriented franchise, signed left-handed pitcher Liu Kai and catcher Zhang Zhenwang in the summer of 2007 to minor league contracts.

While Liu and Zhang may have faded into obscurity, for youngsters such as Xu and Gong who were watching from afar, the mere fact of having compatriots to look up to made a difference. The move by the MLB to live stream 125 games a year in China through 2018 will only further interest in the game.

The MLB development programs have proved relatively successful on a baseball front with 12 players established in the Chinese Baseball League and three individuals having being called up to the national team. Additionally, the program also offers youngsters the chance to reach high education and can boast 27 individuals that have reached graduate school at Chinese universities and a further five that now attend US universities.

Feng Qingyang, one of the many student athletes in Wuxi's MLB development center, takes a swing during daily practice. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Yet at its core the goal of MLB Play Ball is simply to spread the joy of one of the world's most popular sports. This it achieves through visiting hundreds of schools and giving youngsters the chance to take their first swing of the bat – it provides equipment and instruction too and estimates having brought the spirit of baseball to over 100,000 students.

Though spreading spirit and a love of the game are hardly equivalents for on field success, no one has been expecting an overnight success for the MLB and it seems that even if Gong fails to become the first domestically produced player to make the big time, many more are sure to follow.