The Rakuten Monkeys are coming off three consecutive Taiwan Series champions. The CPBL is around the level of AA, and some of the best players are around AAA level. It is an extreme hitters' league. Carpenter would join former big-league flamethrower RHP Radhames Liz in the Monkeys rotation. This league has a foreign player limit of four, and Carpenter is the second foreign player to join the team. Normally, all four spots are occupied by starting pitchers. The Tigers have a pretty special tie to the CPBL, as Fu-te Ni is the first CPBL player to sign a deal directly with an MLB team.

If you're interested in following the CPBL, r/CPBL and cpblstats.com are good places to go!