TAIPEI (Kyodo) -- Taiwan pro baseball's 2024 MVP, Gu Lin Ruei-yang, said Tuesday he hopes to lead by example by taking his talents to new heights with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league.

Two days after Taiwan's historic Premier12 championship in Tokyo, Gu Lin, who did not take part in the international tournament because of an injury, said he, too, is ready to test himself in Japan.

The hard-throwing 24-year-old, the first Taiwanese pitcher to be named Chinese Professional Baseball League's MVP since 2006, told a press conference that Taiwan is capable of producing good players and that he hopes his example can show young people "there is more than one path" in baseball.

He said he had thought about playing baseball overseas since high school but joined the CPBL instead due to his physical condition and "not-so-ideal" performance at the time, adding that he is grateful for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, who selected him as the second overall pick in the 2018 mid-season draft, for helping him achieve his goals.

This season, Gu Lin's sixth with the Lions, he was the league's only pitcher from Taiwan to reach 10 wins. He led the CPBL with a 1.66 ERA while going 10-2 with 150 strikeouts over 125 innings in his breakthrough season.

The physical issues that kept Gu Lin out of the Premier12 did nothing to dampen his pride over the achievement.

"I felt (our players) performed exceptionally well, and I would like to thank them for allowing the world to see Taiwan," he said. "Being a Taiwanese and a baseball athlete, I felt very proud, thank you."

Despite his current physical issue, the Fighters, too, sound eager to see if Gu Lin can further raise Taiwan's profile on Japanese diamonds.

According to Taiwan media, Hideki Kuriyama, Fighters chief baseball officer, told reporters his team currently does not have a player similar to Gu Lin, who is the type of pitcher the Fighters have been looking for.