Growing up playing baseball, Liang Xintong had long accepted that he would never make a living just by knowing how to throw curveballs or changeups in China, where baseball, despite its huge popularity in neighboring East Asian countries, remains a niche sport.

He shelved his glove after playing his last tournament in 2022, seldom stepping on a diamond since, instead forging a career as a ski instructor, believing his heyday on the mound had long gone before it really even started.

It was not a wise decision to pick baseball, totally by chance, as his sport of choice, it seemed.

Well, not until recently.

The launch of the brand-new Chinese Professional Baseball (CPB) league, announced last week in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has delivered Liang and many of his peers an extra inning, and a serious chance to develop a career as a full-time pro, with the new project — the first of its kind in China funded by corporate stakeholders — breathing new life into the sport's promotion.