Former Reds pitcher Keyvius Sampson has agreed to a deal to return to the Uni-Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (H/T CPBL Stats).
Sampson, 32 yesterday, made ten starts for the team last year, pitching to a 3.54 ERA over 61 innings. He also spent time in independent ball, logging 37 innings of 3.41 ERA ball for Lexington.
A fourth round draft pick by the Padres back in 2009, Sampson was taken off waivers by the Reds in 2015. He made his big league debut that year, making 12 starts (13 appearances) and working to a 6.54 ERA over 52 1/3 innings. The Reds shifted him to the bullpen in 2016, and Sampson enjoyed a bit of improvement from his rookie campaign, working to a 4.35 ERA over 39 1/3 innings. A high walk and home run rate meant the underlying numbers were far less promising though, and the Reds cut ties with Sampson at the end of the season.
Since then, he’s bounced around a fair bit, inking minor league deals with the Diamondbacks, Rangers, Marlins, Giants and most recently the White Sox back in 2021. He never made it back to the big leagues during that time though, and worked to a 5.40 ERA over 315 innings at Triple-A. Dotted throughout that time has been stints in Korea, Mexico and Venezuela.
There were times last year where he was flat out brilliant. Wish the jays would have got him. Ughhhh our off season has been horrendous. Last place here we come….
Is this a joke? Last place? Are you really that out of touch with reality?
The CPBL is in Taiwan, not China.
Taiwan you say? Can’t seem to locate it on this NBA wall map here in my office.
Keyvius had a very good but not great year in Korea in 2018 then signed a minor league contract with the Giants in 2019. I heard him interviewed. He is a super humble and good natured dude. Then after four years of injuries, Independent leagues and the pandemic he got a contract to play in Taiwan last year and again was good but not great.
Keep playing in Asia Keyvius! You can’t get back to the big leagues by being good but not great in Asia. My advice would be to make your 200k to 500k playing in Asia while you can because sooner or later you’re probably gonna have to get a regular job like the rest of us.
Best of luck Keyvius!
Any relation to Vesuvius? Boy that deal really blew up…
Wonder if he’s taking a haircut in salary ?
Delilah would LOVE to know