Chinese Xu Guiyuan makes history by signing with MLB club

Itchy Xu, or Xu Guiyuan, introduces himself during an interview with MLB.com in a screen shot from a video on Tecent Sports.

BALTIMORE - Xu Guiyuan is running into history as the first player from MLB's three development centers in China to sign with a Major League club.

The 19-year-old outfielder/first baseman inked a deal with the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.

They call him Itchy. Or if the staff members of MLB's Development Center in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, are feeling particularly clever, they call him Itchy Shoe, because "shoe" is how his surname is pronounced.

At his first week at the MLB DC in July 2010, Xu named MLB All-Star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki as his baseball idol, and coach Dave Palese ran with it. But now, five years later, Xu made history by himself.

"Xu has been working hard at the MLB Development Center and we hope he'll be the first of many future Major League players from China," said Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette.

"He has excellent balance at the plate and very good left-handed power, which we think will play well at Oriole Park at Camden Yards."

Rick Dell, MLB's director of game development in Asia, has been watching Xu play for several years, and he agrees with Duquette.

"With Itchy, you have to like his hitting," Dell said. "He really swings the bat well and has been doing a lot to continuously improve. He's a lefty hitter with a good swing and good bat speed."

Xu was a two-time China National Youth Baseball League Most Valuable Player - in 2012 and '14 - as well as a two-time MLB Taiwan Elite Camp All-Star, in 2013 and '14. He also won the 2012 China National Youth Baseball League Home Run Derby and was the winner of the 2011 Shenzhen Baseball League Best Hitter Award and Most Improved Player honor.

For MLB, though, Xu's growth, improvement and success represents the success of their Chinese development centers. China had a rich baseball history in the first half of the 20th century, with Chinese teams traveling overseas to play, and American All-Star teams, including the likes of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, traveling to China for exhibition games.

"All the ethereal things about baseball - no clock, the sacrifice, the journey around the bases that starts and finishes at home - it all resonates in Chinese culture," said MLB vice president Jim Small, who oversees all of Asia. "I'm convinced that if baseball was around during Confucius' time, he would have been a huge fan."

In 2000, MLB's international ownership committee decided it needed a strategy for developing Chinese players, and in 2009, the first MLB DC was opened at the Dongbeitang School in Wuxi, with 16 local players. In 2010, the DC's first full year of existence, the team played approximately 130 games, which set the standard for years to come and is 100 games more than those played by the highest level professional teams in China. Now, MLB has three DCs in China, with the other two in Changzhou and Nanjing. All are attached to academically strong high schools, with the goal of producing student athletes.

"Before we started the development centers, we discovered how much emphasis the Chinese place on education," said Small. "We knew the philosophy of the DC had to be education first, baseball second, or Chinese parents wouldn't let their sons attend."

To that end, MLB's Chinese student-athletes live in dormitories at the schools, attend classes every day and study halls at night, and play baseball after school and on weekends.