CPBL legend Mike Loree announces retirement

Only three players from the 2007 San Francisco Giants draft class are still active professionally – Madison Bumgarner, Charlie Culberson, and Mike Loree.

That number is about to drop to two. Loree, the Giants’ 50th round pick that year, has announced that is is retiring. His final game with the Chinese Professional Baseball League Fubon Guardians will come on September 2.

Who is CPBL legend Mike Loree?

Loree had spent three years in the Giants system and initially appeared to be a bargain. He was one of the best pitchers in the Northwest League in 2008 in his second professional season, seemingly on his way to working his way up the ladder.

However, he struggled in the South Atlantic League, leading to his release. From there, he spent time in the Indy Leagues aside from a four game stint in Double-A with the Pirates organization in 2011. While he performed well in that brief sample size, Loree was not brought back, ending up back with the Long Island Ducks for 2012.

Despite his struggles with the Ducks, the CPBL came calling that year. He ended up signing with the Lamigo Monkeys, beginning a ten year career in Taiwan. He immediately turned into a star in the CPBL, helping the Monkeys to the 2012 CPBL title and performing well in the 2012 Asia series as Lamigo upset the KBO Samsung Lions.

Loree proved to be far more than a one year wonder. He emerged as one of the best pitchers in CPBL history, one of four players to win 100 games in league history. He won the pitching Triple Crown in 2015, one of three pitchers in CPBL history, and the first foreign pitcher, to do so, then won a second pitching Triple Crown in 2017. Loree was the first pitcher in league history to be named to the Best Ten four times, won four strikeouts titles, three ERA crowns, and led the league in wins twice.

He is also proof that one does not need a major league career to find success. Loree could have easily hung up his cleats after being let go by the Giants, but he continued to believe in himself and push forward. Even if he never appeared in the majors, he still had an impressive professional career.

Mike Loree spent ten years in the Chinese Professional Baseball League where he became a star. He is now set to call it a career on September 2.