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Former Baltimore Orioles, A's Righty Spenser Watkins to Continue Career in Taiwan For 2025

The right-hander had decided to go to the KBO in 2024, but now will head to the CPBL for 2025.

Brady Farkas

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Spenser Watkins (36) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Busch Stadium in 2023.
Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Spenser Watkins (36) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Busch Stadium in 2023. / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
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Former Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics right-hander Spenser Watkins will go to Asia for the 2025 season.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that Watkins will spend next year in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan.

Per Nightengale:

RHP Spenser Watkins, who spent the last 11 years pitching in the Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, Oakland A’s and Washington Nationals’ organizations, including 40 MLB appearances with Baltimore and Oakland, signed a one-year deal with the TSG Hawks in Taiwan. Watkins is a client of agent Matt Gaeta.

Now, it had been reported last offseason that Watkins was going to spend the 2024 season in the Korean Baseball Organization, but he appears to have not done that.

Watkins has appeared in major league games during parts of three seasons with the Orioles and Athletics. He debuted for the Orioles in the 2021 season and then also pitched there in 2022. He made one appearance for Oakland in 2023.

He was actually traded from the Orioles to the Houston Astros in 2023 but then was DFA'd in August, which allowed him to get to Oakland for an opportunity there.

Lifetime, he's a 7-14 pitcher with a 5.97 ERA. He's thrown 164.1 major league innings. He has struck out 102 batters.

It might be tough for Watkins to head overseas, but it has paid dividends for other pitchers recently. Chris Flexen and Erik Fedde are recent examples of guys who went to the KBO, had success, and came back to the major leagues.

Watkins is now 32 years old.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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