Saturday, September 27, 2008

En-Yu Lin

En-Yu Lin is a Taiwanese professional baseball pitcher. After serving in Taiwan's National Training Team in 2003 and 2004, he was drafted by the Macoto Cobras of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan in early 2005 and stayed with the team until the end of 2006. He later played for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan since 2007, under the introduction of former Cobras manager Tai-Yuan Kuo and followed his teammate Ying-Chieh Lin. Lin throws a variety of different pitches and has a fastball speed up to 151 km/h , and has been a frequent member of the Taiwan national baseball team since 2003.

Records





Achievements


*In his first 2005 CPBL season Lin won the following awards: rookie of the year, best nine players on the field, and the annual most valuable player.
*Lin pitched the first historical ball in World Baseball Classic history on March 3, 2006, at the Tokyo Dome .
*In the 2006 CPBL season, Lin set the record of achieving most strike outs in a single season in the CPBL history , as well as led in wins and earned run average.

Chin-hui Tsao

Chin-hui Tsao , is a Major League Baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He is the second major league player of Taiwanese origin, and like the first, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Chin-Feng Chen, he is part .

International Baseball Career


Tsao pitched for his country in five major international competitions, including the Junior World Championships , the 1999 Asia Cup and the 2004 Summer Olympics. He made two appearances at the Olympics, going 0-1 with a 1.93 and one . At the 1999 Asia Cup, he dominated: making three appearances , fanning 15 batters in his one start against .

Tsao has one of Taiwan's best pitching arms. In the 2004 Olympics at Athens, he was clocked at 162km/h at the park and 159km/h on the TV gun.

Colorado Rockies


After graduating from high school in the summer of 1999, Tsao briefly played for Taiwan Major League's Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala before he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Colorado Rockies on October 19, . Tsao pitched in the Rockies' farm system for the Asheville Tourists in , starting 24 games and accumulating a record of 11-8 with a 2.73 ERA with a whopping 187 strikeouts against only 40 walks. He was selected as Baseball America's 2nd team Minor League All-Star, Low A All-Star, Colorado Rockies Minor League Player of the Year, South Atlantic League All-Star, and South Atlantic League Most Valuable Pitcher.

He played in only four games in for High A before undergoing reconstructive right elbow surgery on May 23. He rejoined the team late in the season and made 9 starts .

Finally healthy, he started for Double-A , compiling a 11-4 record with a 2.46 era in 18 starts, striking out 125 against only 26 walks. He earned a spot on the Double-A All-Star team and was a Texas League All-Star.

Made his major league debut for the Rockies against the Milwaukee Brewers on July 25, 2003 as a starter. He worked 6.1 innings, allowed 3 runs, struck out 5 and walked one as he picked up his first victory in the Rockies 7-3 win. He was the first Taiwanese pitcher to ever compete in a Major League game when he took the mound that night. Tsao made history on August 18, 2003, when he became the first Taiwanese player to get a hit.

Injuries and his commitment to the Chinese Taipei Olympic team limited him to just 10 appearances in the Rockies bullpen in , but he earned his first professional save on September 29, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Rockies intended to make him their regular closer for the season, but Tsao was sidelined by a pair of right shoulder injuries that eventually required season-ending surgery. His recovery from the surgery caused him to miss the entire season and led to the Rockies letting him leave as a free agent following the season.

Los Angeles Dodgers



Tsao was picked up by the Los Angeles Dodgers and invited to compete for a roster spot out of the bullpen. He earned a spot and pitched 10 1/3 scoreless innings before faltering and allowing 5 runs in 2/3 of an inning on May 6.

He suffered from injury problems again during the season, missing the second half of the season due to injury. After the season, the Dodgers optioned him to the minors, but he refused the assignment and became a free agent.

Kansas City Royals


Tsao signed with the Kansas City Royals for the season with a minor league contract and invitation to spring training to compete for a spot in the bullpen and rotation, but did not make the team and started the season in Triple-A. On June 3, 2008, Tsao was released by the Royals.

Chin-Lung Hu

Chin-Lung Hu is a Major League Baseball shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hu is the fifth MLB player and the first MLB infielder from Taiwan. He has the shortest last name for a player in Major League history.

Hu was signed by the Dodgers on January 31, , and began his professional career with the rookie league Ogden Raptors in 2003. He split between the Columbus Catfish in A ball and the Vero Beach Dodgers in High-A ball. In , he played the whole season at and .313 with 23 stolen bases.


In , he played for Taiwan in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and then returned to play for the Double-A Jacksonville Suns. Hu played in the All-Star Futures Game during the All-Star break in both 2006 & . He won the MVP award for his performance in the 2007 game.

He was promoted to Triple-A on July 12, 2007. Hu made his major league debut on September 1, , against the San Diego Padres. In his second MLB at bat, Hu hit a solo home run on September 1, 2007, against the , becoming the first position player born in Taiwan to hit a home run in MLB. . On September 25, Hu hit a two-run homer and became the first Taiwanese-born player to hit two home runs.

Chin-Feng Chen

Chin-Feng Chen is a baseball outfielder who was the first player born in Taiwan to play in Major League Baseball.

He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers during - season, but only sparingly. In 2005, Chen was reluctant to accept the designate for assignment back to Dodgers' Las Vegas 51s team, and try out with another major league team. In 2006, after struggling to make 25-man roster with Dodgers, Chen tried out with Japanese Professional League and eventually decided to play Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan.

Chen is the first Taiwanese baseball player to play in Major League baseball when he made his debut on on September 14, 2002. In 2005, Chen was the first Taiwanese position player to ever get a hit in Major League Baseball. However, Chin-hui Tsao became the first Taiwanese player to get a hit in the Majors with the Colorado Rockies on August 18, 2003. After his contract with the Dodgers organization expired after the 2005 season, Chen announced on December 26, 2005, that he would not return to North America for the season, but would instead enter the CPBL draft. He was promptly selected by the La New Bears. Chen had completed his first complete baseball season at the hometown Taiwan in 2006. He ranked first on many aspects such as the highest hit-rate and 81 RBI for the whole season. He also led the La New Bears team to the championship title and he also won his first MVP title for the final series matches. Later on in the second Asian baseball tournament, he showed the best performance again and gained lots of attentions from Japanese and Korean baseball Clubs, including the well-known Orix Buffaloes team. But he rejected the contract from this Japanese team and made the decision to stay in Taiwan for at least one more year with his beloved La New Bears teammates.

Chen is a Taiwanese aborigine , as is Chin-hui Tsao .

Since Chen's debut, four other Taiwanese baseball players have played in MLB: the Rockies' Tsao , the New York Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang, the Dodgers' Hong-Chih Kuo and Chin-Lung Hu.

Achievements


Chin-Feng Chen hit the first in Konami Cup history during the 2006 series.

Chien-Ming Wang

Chien-Ming Wang is a Taiwanese starting pitcher for the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball. He was initially signed as an amateur free-agent for the season, playing for the Staten Island Yankees. He has come to be known as the Yankees ace pitcher over the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

In a New York Times interview, Wang revealed that he is the biological child of the man he formerly thought was his uncle. Due to the media frenzy created in Taiwan over this, Wang briefly refused to give interviews to Taiwanese media. Wang has also learned basic English and is able to give interviews to the American media without an interpreter. Wang currently resides in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Taiwan national baseball team


Wang pitched for the Taiwan national baseball team in the Asian Games. In 2004, as the apparent ace of the staff, Wang led the to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Against , he allowed just three hits with no walks, and at one point retired nine batters in row, to earn the . He also limited to just five hits in the first six innings; however, the Japanese rallied in the seventh inning against Wang to tie the game with three runs. Japan won the game, preventing Taiwan from advancing to the next round.

He is the third major leaguer from Taiwan, following outfielder Chin-Feng Chen and pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao. Since being called up to the majors, Wang has been idolized in Taiwan where all of his games are televised nationwide, many on public big screens to large audiences, even though he decided not to pitch in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Because of this popularity, he was named one of the Time 100 for 2007.

New York Yankees


Wang rose through the New York Yankees minor league system, including the Staten Island Yankees, who retired his number 41 in 2006. Wang posted a 1.75 ERA in Staten Island, second-lowest in franchise history. He played for the World Team in the All-Star Futures Game in 2003.

2005 season


In , Wang was called up from the Yankees' affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. Wang pitched in 18 games, though an injury kept him sidelined for part of the season. He went 8-5 with an earned run average of 4.02. On September 19, 2005, Wang tied a record for s in a game by a pitcher with nine. In the against the , Wang pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed 4 runs one of which was an earned run. The Yankees lost the game and the series.

2006 season


In 2006 Wang won 19 games , posted a 3.63 ERA and even picked up his first save on June 3 against the Baltimore Orioles. Wang threw two complete games, though the first, on June 18, was bittersweet: against the , he allowed a 1-out, 2-run, walk-off home run by Ryan Zimmerman to lose the game 3-2. His first complete game win was on July 28, 2006, a 2-hit, 6-0 shutout of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Yankee Stadium. In his next start, he threw eight shutout innings against the Toronto Blue Jays, in which he got an outstanding 18 ground ball outs. Were it not that it was an unusually hot day combined with a slightly high pitch count, it would've been one of the rare occurrences in recent times of a pitcher throwing complete game shutouts in consecutive starts. Wang started the first game of the against the Detroit Tigers. Wang earned the win as the Yankees beat Detroit 8-4.

Overall in 2006, Wang limited batters to a .211 batting average while games were tied, and a .205 batting average in games that were late and close. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays batted just .159 against him, losing three out of four games to the Yankees that Wang pitched. Wang was effective despite the lowest strikeout rate in the majors , thanks in part to his allowing the fewest home runs per nine innings . Wang also led the league in ground ball percentage and allowed 2.84 groundouts for every fly ball out.

At the end of the season, Wang finished second to Santana in voting for the Cy Young award. Wang collected 15 second-place votes, and 51 points. He also received a ninth-place vote, good for two points, in the AL MVP balloting, won by Justin Morneau. In This Year in Baseball Awards, he was chosen as the top starter in 2006 season with more than 47% of the fan vote.

2007 season


Wang began the 2007 season on the disabled list, having injured his right hamstring during spring training. He returned on April 24th against Tampa Bay. On May 5, 2007, Wang pitched 7 1/3 perfect innings before giving up a home run to Ben Broussard of the Seattle Mariners, falling five outs short of a perfect game.

On June 17, 2007, Wang had a superb outing versus the New York Mets, in which he threw 113 pitches through 8 and 2/3 innings for 10 strikeouts and just 6 hits.

On August 30, 2007, Wang took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox before giving up a single to Mike Lowell in the seventh. Rookies Joba Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez finished the two-hitter, and the Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-0.

In 2007 Wang was 2nd in the AL in wins , 3rd for the second straight year in Won-Lost percentage , 9th in wild pitches , and 10th in hit batsmen . He had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. He also had the lowest HR/9 innings pitched ratio in the AL , was 3rd in GB% and GB/FB , and had the 5th-lowest strikeouts per 9 innings pitched .

Despite his regular season performance, Wang faltered in the 2007 postseason. In the American League Divisional Series against the Cleveland Indians, Wang started two games, earning the loss in both appearances. He pitched a combined 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up 12 earned runs, for a postseason ERA of 19.06. The Yankees lost the ALDS in four games.

2008 season



The beginning of the 2008 season saw Wang at the top of the Yankees rotation and the ace with veterans Mike Mussina and Andy Pettite. In the final Yankee Stadium season opener against the Toronto Blue Jays, Wang pitched 7.0 innings, allowing only 2 runs and picking up his first win of the season. In his first match against the Boston Red Sox in 2008, he pitched a one-run, two-hit complete game.

On April 22, 2008, Wang recorded a win against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. The victory, in Wang's 85th career start, made him the fastest Major Leaguer to record 50 wins as a starter since Dwight Gooden, who won his 50th game in his 82nd start on June 29, 1986, at Chicago for the New York Mets. Wang also became the quickest Yankee to 50 wins since Ron Guidry did this in his 82nd start on Aug. 13, 1979, at Texas.

Wang finished April with a perfect 5-0 record, leading the American League along with Joe Saunders. On May 2nd, Wang became the first six-game winner in the American League with a win over the Seattle Mariners with just one earned run over six innings of quality pitching. In a game on May 8th, in a duel of outstanding pitching, Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians beat Wang 3-0, handing Wang his first loss of the season. In this first loss of the season, Wang allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings. On June 10th, after going six starts with two losses and four no decisions since May 2nd, Wang defeated the Oakland Athletics 3-1 to end the longest victory drought of his career.

On June 15th, Wang was taken out of an interleague game versus the Houston Astros due to a right foot injury he sustained while running the bases, something he was not used to doing as pitchers do not bat in the American League. Wang was diagnosed with a torn Lisfranc ligament of the right foot and a partial tear of the peroneus longus of the right foot. Despite not requiring surgery, he was on crutches and wearing a protective boot. The cast was removed on July 29, but the extensive rehabilitation process prevented Wang from pitching for the remainder of the season.

Scouting Report




A finesse pitcher with a power pitcher's velocity, Wang throws a and four-seam fastball combination, along with a slider, changeup, and . His four-seam fastball usually rests between 94-96 mph with some lateral movement and tops out at around 98 mph. His sinker, which is responsible for his elevation to ace status, has very impressive late, downward, and lateral movement through the zone and is also faster than most, sitting in the 91-94 mph range. His strikeout pitch is a sharp developing slider that closely resembles the fastball coming out of his hand, thus getting batters to swing ahead of the pitch. Wang also throws a decent split-finger fastball, though he only uses the pitch sparsely when in need of a strikeout or double play. Wang's pitching style is characterized by efficiency, command of the strike zone, few walks, few home runs allowed and very few strikeouts. Wang works quickly and uses his ground-ball inducing sinker to produce many double plays. This efficiency often allows Wang to maintain a low pitch count deep into games.
In Taiwan and the minor leagues, Wang threw a more conventional assortment of pitches, including a four-seam fastball, a changeup, and far more . The sinker, which has become Wang's signature pitch, was developed during his minor league career with advice from Neil Allen, his AAA pitching coach, and his AAA catcher, Sal Fasano.

Prior to the 2008 season, Wang relied on his sinking fastball about 90% of the time. However, after occasional bad outings, especially during the 2007 ALDS, Wang has worked to fully incorporate a slider and changeup into his repertoire. Through his first three starts of 2008, Wang has used his slider roughly 15% of the time and his changeup around 8%.

Career statistics

Chien-Ming Chiang

Chien-Ming Chiang , born May 27, 1985 in Taiwan, is a starting pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball. He was initially signed at 2005, became the fifth Taiwanese Yomiuri Giants' players. His NPB debut was on June 14, 2006, first start was on August 22, and got first win.

He played for 2006 World Baseball Classic Taiwan national team, and represented Taiwan to play , where he won the gold medal.

Chien-Fu Yang

Chien-Fu Yang , born April 22, 1979 in Taitung, Taiwan, is a professional baseball pitcher. After serving in the National Training Team in 2001 and 2002 he was drafted by the Sinon Bulls of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in early 2003 and stays at that club to date. Yang is well-known for his slider and had a fastball speed up to 152 km/h in his heyday in 2004, as well as being a frequent member of the Taiwan national baseball team since 2001. However between 2005 and 2007 his elbow injury and the overall poor condition of the Sinon Bulls compromised his performance.

Career Statistics