The Fubon Guardians Hire Former Chinatrust Brothers Hitting Coach Tommy Cruz

Tommy Cruz, pictured 2017, will now be the Fubon Guardians' hitting coach for the 2018 season.
Photo: Liberty Times News

UPDATE (18:34): the contract for Cruz will end in April according to an ETToday report as the hitting coach will work with the Taiwanese National team for the 2018 Asian Games in May. Cruz's scheduling may be one of the main reasons that Cory Snyder and the Chinatrust Brothers could not come to terms for the 2018 season as Cruz cannot commit for the entirety of the season. 

The Fubon Guardians announced today that they have added former Chinatrust Brothers and Taiwanese National U23 hitting coach Tommy Cruz to the coaching staff for the 2018 season.

Cruz was with the Brothers organization for two seasons where he helped create, arguably, one of the best offensive seasons in CPBL history in 2016. The Puerto Rican hitting coach will be in charge of turning around a struggling Guardians’ offense that was hit hard by injuries in 2017.

The Brothers turn to Shi Chih-Wei (石志偉) to take over the role of hitting coach for the upcoming 2018 season.

Cruz’s contagious positive attitude had great effects on the Brothers players and the fans alike. He will certainly be missed by many Brother faithful. 

It will be interesting to see if the addition of Cruz helps facilitate the Guardians' ability to sign former Brothers sluggers Chiang Chih-Hsien and Chang Cheng-Wei.