Following in the footsteps of Lin and Yang...

Top Prospect:
Yi-Hao Lin

Talking to a friend the other day, I was amazed to learn that each year a number of top Taiwanese middle school/high school prospects go on to Japan to play HS baseball there. The amazing part of the story is the fact that of all the kids who've gone over to Japan, only two have panned out: Wei-Chu Lin of the Hanshin Tigers and Chung-Shou Yang of the Nippon Fighters - and both guys are positional players (OF and IF). None of the Taiwanese pitchers have ever panned out. Well, Yi-Hao Lin, a 15 year old righty, will try to change all of that. Lin, who throws easily in the 90 to 93 mph range already, will attend HS in Japan. Lin has a contract with the Yomiuri Giants, so in the event Lin is successful, he will end up in the NPB. The negotiations on Lin's behalf were assisted by Lin's junior high school coach, Wu-Hsiung Huang and the WBC NT coach Hwa-Wei Lin. The best compliment paid by my friend to Lin is the fact that Lin's raw ability at his age is already better than both ML's Wang and Tsao were at the same age. Lin will represent Taiwan's under 16 National Youth Team that will play in Indonesia and compete for the title of Asia's finest in September.

*edited 7/20/06