Cao Jinhui's Signing with Fuzhou Haixia Draws Attention After Over Half a Month Without Pitching; Fans Question His Playing Time

In the China Baseball City League (CPB) Spring Season Wild Card game, Shanghai Zhengda Dragons beat Fuzhou Haixia 4-2 to move on to the finals. Throughout this game, Haixia’s pitcher Cao Jinhui remained unused. Having joined the squad more than two weeks ago, he did not participate in any regular-season matches and also missed this crucial playoff game deciding qualification, leading some supporters to doubt his true contribution.

Fuzhou Haixia announced Cao Jinhui’s signing earlier this month and had initially planned for him to start on January 13. However, the plan was canceled before the game due to "the need for further conditioning," and he never appeared on the field throughout the regular season. Since Haixia entered the wild card round as the league’s third seed, there were expectations for Cao to compete alongside Shanghai Zhengda’s Lin Yiquan, but this did not come to pass.

Although local fans noticed that Cao Jinhui trained with the team at every game and served as a bullpen catcher on the sidelines, his failure to make an official game debut after more than half a month sparked discussion. Cao did throw practice pitches before the wild card game but was ultimately not given a starting role. Some fans voiced their confusion online: "What was the purpose of signing Cao Jinhui?" and "He’s with the team but doesn’t pitch—why wasn’t he started in this crucial elimination game?"

Now 43 years old, Cao Jinhui has previously played for MLB teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies. His career later attracted attention due to involvement in controversial incidents. His performance and role after joining the China Professional Baseball League (CPB) will continue to be closely watched by baseball enthusiasts.