'03 Junior NT Revisited...

Amateur:

In a follow up to a previous post on past junior NT's, here is a list of the kids on the 2003 junior NT that signed with MLB and NPB organizations (6):

1)CM Chiang (Yomiuri Giants)

2)CA Huang (Seattle Mariners)

3)WY Chen (Chunichi Dragons)

4)YF Lin (Philadelphia Phillies)

5)CH Cheng (Toronto Blue Jays)

6)KH Lo (Seattle Mariners)
This team was definitely top-heavy on pitching and despite the talented pitching depth, finished 2nd at the AAA Asian Championships.


In a follow up to an earlier story on CL Huang, Baseballfly reported that Huang was basically ready to sign with the Yomiuri Giants. However, after he signed with Jerry Sung, Huang changed his mind and is now set on playing baseball in the US.



MLB:
The Dodgers are down 6-0 to the Giants in the 4th inning. Hu is currently 0-1. Follow Hu's AB's here.

NPB:
The Fighters lost to the Marines 2-1. CS Yang was 0-3 with a RBI. Box

CPBL:

Whales 1 - Lions 0: Whales SP Fu-Te Ni pitched a CG shutout, allowing only 3 hits - to go along with 5 K's and 0 walks. Ni outdueled Pete Munro, who threw 8 innings and matched Ni pitch-for-pitch. PM allowed only 1 hit and 1 unearned run over 8 IP - he also had 7 K's and 1 walk allowed. TB was 0-3 and KC Kao was 1-3 for the Lions. Whales CF Jen-Chieh Hsu drove in the game's only run - he was 1-3.

Elephants 9 - Bulls 4: Nic Ungs won his second straight decision and game MVP honors with a strong performance - he allowed 1 run on 5 hits over 7 IP. Elephants 3B Chiang Chen was 3-5 with a double and 4 RBI's/C Chih-Hung Chen was 1-3 with 3 RBI's/RF Huai-Shan Chen was 1-3 with a RBI/1B Chia-Chia was 2-2 with a RBI/DH CYC was 2-5 with 2 doubles. For the Bulls, Tarzan was 1-3/DH Chien-Ming Chang was 1-3 with 2 RBI's/1B Kuo-Long Hsu was 2-4 with a double and a RBI.

Sat. Scoreboard...

MLB:
CMW has been selected to start Game 1 of the ALDS against the Cleveland Indians.

The Dodgers find themselves behind 4-2 heading into the 4th inning against the Giants. Hu is currently 1-1 with a triple. Box



NPB:
CS Yang was 1-1 with a double and a RBI in the 9th inning. The Fighters won 9-1. Box



CPBL:
Whales 6 - Lions 5: Wei-Lun Pan was set to win his 16th game of the season when his relievers blew a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th inning. WL Pan pitched 6 strong innings, allowing 1 run on 8 hits to go along with 6 K's and no walks allowed. Game MVP honors went to Chin-Shou Shih who drove in the GW run - he was 1-4 with a RBI. His teammates: Chia-Hung Chen hit his 5th HR of the season and was 1-5 with a RBI/I-Min Wang was 4-5/Jen-Chieh Hsu was 2-5 with a double and a RBI/Carlos Villalobos was 3-5 with a RBI/Tai-Yong Kuo was 2-5 with a double and a RBI. For the Whales, Tilson Brito was 2-4 with a double and a RBI/KC Kao was 1-5/Wu-Hsiung Pan was 2-4 with a RBI/Fu-Hao Liu was 3-5 with a double and 2 RBI's.

Bulls 7 - Elephants 6: Chien-Fu Yang earned a ND for the Bulls - he allowed 4 runs (3 earned) over 5.2 innings. Tarzan hit his 19th HR of the season - he was 2-4 with 2 RBI's. Bulls DH Chih-Wei Chen was 2-5 with a RBI/Game MVP honors went to Tsung-Nan Lin after he hit a PH triple and scored the GW run in the bottom of the 9th. For the Elephants, RF Huai-Shan Chen hit his 6th HR of the year and was 3-4 with 2 RBI's/Chia-Chia was 2-3 with a double and a RBI/CYC was 3-5 with a RBI.

Breaking News - Red Sox Sign Chia-Chu Chen!!!

The Boston Red Sox inked 18 year old catcher Chia-Chu Chen (DOB: 4/7/1989), who was arguably the top hitting prospect on the 2007 junior NT. I had an opportunity to watch Chen earlier this summer. The 5'10", 160 pounder makes good contact with the bat and calls a pretty good game from behind the plate. He is an excellent defensive catcher. Here's a brief vid of Chen at the plate - also if you check the 4 vids that I posted of CH Lin vs. RH Hsieh + Lin scoring from second base - CC Chen is behind the plate catching Rong-Hao Hsieh. The kid bats lefty and throws righty and was a member of the 2006 and 2007 junior NT's. He is the 5th kid from the 2006 junior NT and the first from the 2007 junior NT to sign with a MLB team. CC Chen received a signing bonus in the area of $150 - 200K.



***In other news, Baseballfly.blogspot.com (in Chinese - although the memo is in English) is reporting that WMG held a workout for 4 pitchers yesterday at Pierce College in Southern Cal. The 4 kids listed are:
1)Kan I Che - this kid is supposedly the best of the 4, topping out at 90 mph
2)Shieh Chieh Hsu - this kid was a member of the 2007 junior NT
3)Lo Chiao Hao
4)Shih Li Wei

Baseballfly is also reporting that amateur P Chih-Lung Huang is now represented by Jerry Sung and his sports agency called US Giants Sports Management.

Friday Scores...

NPB:
Wei-Chu Lin jacked his 15th HR of the season (and first since August 12th) and was 2-3 with 2 RBI's to help lead the Tigers to a 2-1 victory over the Dragons. Box/Recap

MC Hsu was charged with the loss as the Seibu Lions lost to the Nippon Ham Fighters 11-7. Hsu allowed 2 runs on 2 hits over 2/3rds of an inning. Box



MLB:
The Dodgers are down 1-0 to the SF Giants in the first inning. Follow Hu here.



CPBL:
Elephants 5 - Lions 3: Elephants SP Pao-Hsien Wu won his first game of the year. He allowed 3 runs on 5 hits over 5 IP. Game MVP honors went to 3B Jui-Chen Chen who was 2-3 with a double and 2 RBI's. Other Elephants in the game: CYC was 0-4 with a RBI, while CF and leadoff hitter Cheng-Wei Huang was 3-5. For the Lions, Tilson Brito was 1-3 with a double and a RBI, while KC Kao was 1-4 with a RBI.

Bears 8 - Cobras 7: Game MVP honors went to Bears RF Raul Gonzalez who was 2-5 with his first HR of the season, a double and 2 RBI's. Here's how his other teammates fared: Chih-Wei Shih was 2-4 with a double and 3 RBI's/CFC was 0-2 with 3 walks/Chih-Sheng Lin made his return to the club after injuring his left shoulder - he was 0-1/Hao-Chu Cheng was 2-4 with a RBI/Kit Pellow was 2-5/Chin-De Yu was 3-5. For the Cobras, CH Hsieh was 0-4/Ming-Jen Kuo was 3-6 with 2 RBI's/Wei Kao was 3-5 with 2 RBI's/Shih-Hao Huang was 2-3 with a double and a RBI.

2007 Just Autographs Preview....

Ok, for those of you who collect sports memorabilia, Just Minors has come out with a new product called JUST AUTOGRAPHS PREVIEW 2007. Click here for the checklist - instead of bidding on Ebay, you can purchase the autographed cards of Yung-Chi Chen, Chin-Lung Hu, Chih-Hsien Chiang, and Che-Hsuan Lin directly from JM. The black autos are #'d to 25 ($40) and the white autos are #'d to 200 ($20).

Lin Returns.....

NPB:

Wei-Chu Lin made his return back to the parent club today. He was 0-3 as the Tigers lost to the Dragons 4-1. Box

MISC:
Per Taiwan news reports:

*Reds signee Yen-Wen Kuo received a reported ~ $120,000 signing bonus.

*Chun-Hsiu Chen received ~ $300,000 from the Cleveland Indians.

With regards to where these kids fall on the talent spectrum of Taiwanese prospects, refer to this previous post. Missing from that list are:
1)Che-Hsuan Lin (Red Sox) - $400K.
2)Hong-Wen Chen (Cubs) - $200K
3)Chih-Hsiang Wen (Cubs) - $2,500



MLB:
The Dodgers and Rockies are scoreless in the bottom of the 2nd. Follow Hu's AB's here.

CPBL:
Bears 3 - Cobras 2: Andrew Lorraine won his third game of the season and game MVP honors. AL allowed 2 runs on 6 hits over 7 IP - he also had 2 K's and 3 walks. CFC was 2-3 with a triple and a RBI, while teammate Kit Pellow drove in the other 2 runs (he was 1-4 with a double). For the Cobras, CH Hsieh was 0-2 with 2 walks. Cobras 1b Chuan-Chia Wang was 2-4 with a RBI.

Read more here about Nic Ungs's (recently acquired by the Elephants after being waived by the Florida Marlins) experience in Taiwan.

CMW Matches Last Year's Win Total....

MLB:*CMW won his 19th game of the season in his last regular season start against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Wang pitched 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits - he K'd 6 and walked 3. The Yankees won 12-4. Box/Recap

Wang's final tally for the regular season:
19 Wins - 7 Losses, 3.70 ERA, 199.1 IP, 104 K's, 59 BB's, 9 HR's allowed

Over the past two years, Wang has the most wins in the Major Leagues with 38.

With the win, the Yankees advanced to the post-season and will most likely face the Cleveland Indians.

*Heading into the top of the 4th the Dodgers are down 2-0 to the Rockies. Hu is currently o-1 with a K. Follow his AB's here.

NPB:
CS Yang is still popping up in Fighters box scores, so I can't verify if there's any truth to the earlier report on Yang having season-ending surgery on his ankle. The Fighters won 2-1 over the Eagles as Yang got in the game in the 9th inning as a PR. Box

CPBL:

Elephants 7 - Whales 3: CYC hit his 3rd HR of the year and picked up game MVP honors after going 4-5 with 2 RBI's and just missing the cycle by a double. Teammate Chia-Chia was 3-5 with a double and a RBI, while 3B Jui-Chen Chen was 3-4 with 2 RBI's. Elephants starter Yu-Cheng Liao earned his 4th win of the year after allowing 2 runs on 5 hits over 7 IP.

Lions 6 - Bulls 4: Nelson Figueroa won his 3rd consecutive start and game MVP honors as he threw 8 innings, allowing 2 runs on 9 hits - he also had 5 K's and 2 walks allowed. CFC's older bro Lien-Hung Chen hit his 10th HR of the season (he was 1-2 with a RBI). Here's how the other Lions sluggers fared: Tilson Brito was 2-4 with a RBI/KC Kao was 1-5 with a triple and 2 RBI's/Wu-Hsiung Pan was 3-5 with a RBI. For the Bulls, Tarzan was 1-3 with a RBI while DH Chien-Ming Chang was 3-3 with a double and a RBI.



Other:
Baseball America finally announced Yen-Wen Kuo's signing with the Reds yesterday. It also looks like the Cubs signed another Korean kid - which is good to see.

Hu Has Two!

MLB:

Ching-Lung Hu hit his second HR of the season in only his 9th AB against hard-throwing Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies. Hu hit a squibber up the 3B line for an IF single in his first AB, homered in his 2nd AB- driving in two, and K'd in his 3rd AB. The Dodgers are currently losing to the Rockies 6-5 heading into the 7th. Box Score*UPDATED*

Chien-Ming Wang is scheduled to pitch tomorrow against JP Howell & the Tampa Bay D-Rays. In what is most likely his final start of the regular season, Wang will try and match last season's win total.

CPBL:

Elephants 5 - Whales 4: Elephants reliever Chun-Yi Wu won his 3rd game of the season after starter Joey Dawley got knocked out of the game after 3 innings. Wu threw 4 shutout innings, giving up 1 hit and K'ing 3 - he was selected game MVP. Wu received run support from: Chia-Chia who hit his 19th HR of the season and was 3-4 with 3 RBI's & CYC who was 3-4. For the Whales, Carlos Villalobos launched his 8th HR of the season and was 1-3 with 2 RBI's. Teammate Hsin-Min Wang was 2-3 with 2 RBI's.

Lions 11 - Bulls 3: Pete Munro won his 14th game of the year after allowing 3 runs on 10 hits over 7 IP. Lien-Hung Chen backed up Munro with a game MVP performance, he was 2-5 with a double, HR #9, and 5 RBI's. Other Lions notables included: Tilson Brito who was 1-5; KC Kao who was 2-5 with a RBI; and Wu-Hsiung Pan who was 3-5 with a RBI. For the Bulls, Tarzan was 2-5 with a RBI while RF Da-Hung Cheng was 3-4 with a double.

2007 Junior NT Member: Po-Ting Hsiao

More often than not, the junior NT of Taiwan has been a good source of providing talent to both MLB and NPB teams. Let's take a look back at the last few classes (from 2000 on).
(*) - denotes how many players were signed by MLB/NPB teams

*The 2000 junior NT's (2) stars were CL Hu (Dodgers), Kevin Huang (Red Sox), & WL Pan (Lions) - the top domestic pitcher in the CPBL today. The team finished 5th at the AAA World Championships.

*The class of 2001 (5) can be considered the most successful junior NT in recent times- in terms of individual achievement and the success of the team - the 2001 squad won the AAA Asian Championships. Members of the class of 2001 included CL Hu, YC Chen (Mariners), CL Lo (Rockies), CH Cheng (Blue Jays), & YH Yang (Hawks).

*The class of 2002 (5) was also very successful, winning a silver medal at the AAA World Championships. 2002 junior NT members included: CL Hu, WY Chen (Dragons), PH Keng (Blue Jays), SW Tseng (Indians), & CK Wu (Mariners).

*Unfortunately, I don't have the roster for the 2003 junior NT.

*From 2004, (5) junior NT members that went on to bigger and better things included: CH Chiang (Red Sox), TK Chiu (Reds), SA Kuo (Rockies), PY Lin (White Sox), & WW Lin (Twins). This team finished 5th at the World AAA Championships (with close losses to Japan led by Yu Darvish - who is now the best pitcher in the NPB and to the US)- although the outcome was somewhat influenced by Mother Nature.

*The 2005 junior NT's roster (3) included CH Chiang, CH Huang (Red Sox), and WW Lin. This team finished 3rd in the Asian AAA Championships.

*The 2006 junior NT (4) consisted of CH Lin (Red Sox), WW Lin, CH Chen (Indians), and YW Kuo (Reds). The team finished 5th at the World AAA Championships - but defeated Cuba, the US (who won the silver), and lost a close decision to the champs - South Korea.

*The 2007 junior NT won Taiwan's second AAA Asian Championship. The star players on this team have been mentioned before: Chih-Lung Huang (Tourney MVP - best ERA and member of the 2006 junior NT), Chia-Chu Chen (concensus top hitter on the '07 team and a member of the '06 junior NT), Kuo-Long Lo (most HR's and runs scored in the '07 tourney), Rong-Hao Hsieh (top pitcher in the class of '08), & Wen-Hao Cheng (one of the top pitchers in the class of '09). While the success of the team can't be questioned, the only knock on the majority of the top players listed above (except for Hsieh) is the fact that all of them are undersized (CL Huang, CC Chen, KL Lo, & WH Cheng all stand ~ 5'9"). With that said, all of the individuals listed above are talented and based on the trends of years past, one should expect a number of these guys to eventually sign and play somewhere overseas.

Ok, now let's take a closer look at another lesser-known member of the 2007 squad who turned some heads during his time on the international scene: Po-Ting Hsiao. (Hsiao has faced the US junior NT three times 1 2 3 in the past two years.)

With the success of Chin-Lung Hu (5'9") and David Eckstein (5'7"), it goes to show that size doesn't matter as long as you have the talent and the drive to succeed in MLB. The next undersized Taiwanese infielder to follow in Hu's footsteps is none other than Po-Ting Hsiao, a 5'8" ~ 150 pound SS/2B. The 18 year old (DOB 8/20/89) bats lefty and throws righty. Like Hu, the kid is an excellent defender (good range and a strong arm), has good speed, and has represented his country numerous times, playing on the 2007 Palomino World Series runner-up squad, the 2007 junior NT, the 2006 junior NT, and the 2005 youth NT. Obviously Hsiao will need to get stronger as he matures, but let's not forget that Hu's vitals were nearly identical (he was listed at 150 pounds) when he first came to the US. The biggest question mark facing Hsiao will be his bat (see above links vs team USA), although he did make solid contact when I saw him in action this past summer. It is important to note that Hsiao, as a 16 year old in the 2005 World Youth AA Championships, did collect 2 hits (he was 2-3 and scored the only run) against US starter Blake Beavan - the 2007 first round pick (17th overall) of the Texas Rangers.

Here's a vid I took of him at the 2007 PWS:

Monday Scoreboard...

NPB:

The Seibu Lions lost to the Rakuten Eagles 4-2. MC Hsu pitched one scoreless inning of relief. Box

CPBL:

Elephants 2 - Cobras 0: Elephants newcomer Nic Ungs was dominant. The SP threw 6 innings of shutout ball. He allowed 6 hits, K'd 8 and walked 2. For his efforts, he was selected game MVP. For the Elephants, Chia-Chia was 1-3 while CYC was 0-3 - catcher Chih-Hung Chen was 1-2 with a RBI. CH Hsieh was 2-4 for the Cobras, while SP Andy Van Hekken took a tough loss - throwing 8 innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits.

Bears 6 - Bulls 2: In a rain-shortened 5 inning game, game MVP honors went to Bears CF Long-Yi Huang who hit HR #11 and was 2-3 with 3 RBI's. Teammate CFC hit HR #26 and was 2-2 with a RBI. SP Wen-Hsiung Hsu won his 5th game after allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 7 hits over 5 IP. For the Bulls, Tarzan was 0-3.

Hu - POY.........

MINORS:
Chin-Lung Hu was named the Dodgers Minor League Player of the Year. Congrats to Hu! It looks like he will be joining YC Chen and CL Lo in the Arizona Fall League.


MLB:
Well, I'm watching Fox-Prime and it looks like CL Hu will be getting his first career MLB start against Arizona today. Box Score*UPDATED*


NPB:
En-Yu Lin earned a ND for the Rakuten Eagles, however he pitched well enough to win. Lin (who was clocked at 91 mph) threw 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on only 3 hits to go along with 8 K's and 3 walks allowed. The Eagles beat the Lions 5-4. Box


According to JapanBaseballDaily, Fighters SS/3B CS Yang is out for the rest of the season after having surgery to repair a stress fracture in his ankle.



CPBL:
Whales 2 - Cobras 1 (GAME 1): Lefty Fu-Te Ni won his 6th game of the season in dominant fashion. Ni threw 6 shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits to go along with 9 K's and 3 walks. Whales LF Tai-Yong Kuo (2-4 with a RBI) hit his 4th HR of the season in support of Ni. For the Cobras, CH Hsieh was 0-4, while Chuan-Chia Wang drove in the only run for the Cobras with his 7th HR of the year.

Cobras 18 - Whales 2 (GAME 2): Game MVP Travis Minix won his 5th game of the season, after allowing 2 runs on 5 hits over 6 IP. TM received plenty of run support as his offense rapped out 21 hits - with SS Ming-Jen Kuo going 2-6 with a double & 4 RBI's/CF CH Hsieh was 3-4 with a double and 2 RBI's/DH Hung-Yuan Lin was 3-4 with 3 RBI's/2B Shih-Yang Deng was 3-5 with HR #8 and 3 RBI's/LF Su-Chi Zhou was 3-4 with HR #7 and 2 RBI's.

Bears 4 - Bulls 1: Ying-Feng Tsai won his 2nd game of the year and game MVP honors. Tsai allowed 1 run on 3 hits over 5.1 innings. Earning the loss for the Bulls was Chien-Fu Yang as he fell to 7-11 on the season. CFC blasted his 25th HR of the season as he was 2-4 with 2 RBI's. Kit Pellow (hit his 1st HR of the year) and Raul Gonzalez also chipped in a RBI each for the Bears. CH Chien-Ming Chang was the lone bright spot for the Bulls - he hit his 2nd HR of the year and was 3-4 with a RBI. Tarzan was 0-4.

Sat. News....

CPBL:
Whales 5 - Cobras 2: The Whales won in a rain-shortened 5 inning affair. RF Tai-Yong Kuo won game MVP honors after he hit his 3rd HR of the season - a 3-run shot in the 1st inning. Whales 1B Chun-Chiang Kao was 2-3 with a double and a RBI. Yu-Chieh Shen won his 8th game of the season. For the Cobras, CH Hsieh was 0-2 while RF Yuan-Chia Chen and 2B Hsiang-Kai Shih were both 1-2 with a RBI.



NPB:
En-Yu Lin is scheduled to start tomorrow's game for the Eagles. He will be facing the Seibu Lions. EY Lin was clocked at 90 mph in his last start in the minors.

ND for CMW....

MLB:If you would have told me that Wang would throw 7 innings and allow only 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits against the Blue Jays, I would have chalked that up as a W. However, Wang was matched up against one of the AL's best in Roy Halladay and the two were engaged in a classic pitcher's duel. Roy shut down the Yanks offense as Wang left after the 7th down 2-0. He was in line to take the loss until his offense came through with 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th to knot things up at 4 runs a piece. The Yanks and Jays are currently tied at 4-4 heading into the 11th inning. Box Score
Wang most likely has one more start before the post season begins - so he'll probably get a shot to match last season's win total against Tampa Bay.


As the Dodgers continue to slip out of contention for the playoffs, hopefully management will give CL Hu some more opportunities to gain experience at the ML level.

NPB:
The Fighters won 13-5. CS Yang in his first game back with the parent club was 0-1 with a run scored. Box

CPBL:
Lions 3 - Elephants 0: Wei-Lun Pan won his 15th game of the season, shutting out the Elephants over 5 innings. He gave up 6 hits, had 3 K's and 1 walk. Pan improves to 15-2 on the season with an ERA of 2.37 - he won game MVP honors. Pan's teammate Tilson Brito slugged his 31st HR of the season - tying the league all-time record in that dept. - TB was 1-4 with a RBI. Fellow Lion slugger KC Kao was 2-4 with a double. For the Elephants, Chia-Chia was 2-3 while CYC was 1-4.

9/20/07 News...

MISC: MORE PROSPECTS ON THE WAY?

Chia-Chu Chen will be coming to America alongside Yen-Wen Kuo to participate in the Fall Instructional League (with which ML team is unclear) per UDN.com. The two kids both attended Chinese Culture University after graduating from HS this summer.

In other news, WMG - the Wasserman Media Group (see earlier post) will be sending 6 teenagers to the US (they will be in Los Angeles) for a showcase later this month.




US MINORS:
Baseball America has named Che-Hsuan Lin as the #4 prospect in the GCL - he's ranked higher than teammate SS Oscar Tejeda who had an outstanding first year as a 17 year old.

Q: Jhon from California asks: Is Lin a better Prospect than Tejeda? Of the two who do you think has the higher ceiling? and Who has the better chance of reaching it?

A:
Chris Kline (FROM BA): Interesting question, and I think while Tejeda will rank higher in the system next year, Lin was the better guy in this league this season. Both are middle-of-the-diamond talents with big upside; I ranked Lin where I did based on how well he did a little bit of everything. He's more of a pull conscious guy than Tejeda right now, but that'll change as he gets more experience. Both guys proved they weren't as raw as a lot of people thought they were, which is impressive given the ages and the performances. If Tejeda stays at SS, he has bigger upside. If not, it's pretty even.
*UPDATED*

NPB:

Hanshin Tigers OF Wei-Chu Lin is rehabbing his way back into game shape - however, he has made it known that he will not be participating in the Baseball World Cup taking place in November.

CS Yang has been recalled by the Nippon Ham Fighters after spending some more time in the minors.*UPDATED*

CPBL:

Whales 5 - Bulls 3: Wei-Ming Chu won his 6th game of the year, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits over 6 IP - he had 5 K's and 0 walks allowed. Whales LF Tai-Yong Kuo smacked a 2-run double to support his SP. Da-Hung Cheng (1-3 with 2 RBI's) hit his 3rd HR of the season for the Bulls. Tarzan was 0-4 while teammate 2B Chao-Hsing Cheng was 3-4.

Lions 15 - Elephants 3: Nelson Figueroa won his second game of the season after an offensive outburst from his big guns. Lions sluggers Tilson Brito and KC Kao hit HR #'s 30 and 17 respectively. TB was 3-6 with 3 RBI's while game MVP KC Kao was 3-6 with a double and 5 RBI's. Tilson Brito is one HR away from tying the league record for most HR's hit in one season - the record of 31 was set in 1998. Lions CF Sung-Hsien Yang was 4-4 with a double and a RBI while RF Lien-Hung Chen was 2-2 with 2 RBI's. For the Elephants, CYC hit his 2nd HR of the season and was 1-4 with 2 RBI's while Chia-Chia was 1-4.

Another MLB Signing - SS Yen-Wen Kuo....

Per the news out of Taiwan, 18 year old shortstop Yen-Wen Kuo signed with the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds now have two Taiwanese players in Kuo & LHP Tzu-Kai Chiu. Kuo was profiled in a previous post. From the 2006 junior NT, Kuo is the fourth player signed by a ML organization, joining CH Chen, WW Lin, and CH Lin.*Updated

YW Kuo received a ~ $120,000 signing bonus. *Added 9/27/07*

Here's a highlight reel of Kuo's abilities from Youtube:

Indians sign Chun-Hsiu Chen....

The Cleveland Indians inked their second Taiwanese player in two years. Chun-Hsiu Chen is an 18 year old power hitting catching prospect - he is probably the best power prospect to sign out of Taiwan since Chin-Feng Chen. Chen stands 6'1" tall and weighs ~ 190 pounds. Read more about Chen here and see a video of him at the plate here. The youngster will join Sung-Wei Tseng, who had a nice first season in High A ball, in the organization. Chen is the 3rd member of the 2006 junior NT to sign with a ML club - after WW Lin and CH Lin.

Chen received a ~ $300K signing bonus from the Indians. *Added 9/27/07*

Wed. Scoop...

CPBL:
Whales 12 - Bears 2: Lorenzo Barcelo won his 7th game of the season after allowing 1 unearned run on 4 hits over 6 IP (he had 5 K's and 2 walks). The Whales smacked 3 HR's, led by game MVP RF Chun-Chiang Kao who was 4-5 with HR #7, a double and 5 RBI's/Carlos Villalobos also hit his 7th HR of the season and was 3-6 with 3 RBI's/Chia-Hung Chen hit HR #4 and was 1-4 with 2 RBI's. For the Bears, CF Long-Yi Huang hit HR #9 and was 1-3 with a RBI. Teammate CFC was 2-3.

Cobras 4 - Bulls 3: Game MVP honors went to Cobras DH Jose Leon who hit a 3-run HR (his 3rd of the year) in the top of the 9th for the margin of victory - JL was 1-4 with 3 RBI's. Teamate CH Hsieh was 1-3. Hsien-Chih Chang won his 11th game of the season in relief of starter Andy Van Hekken. Alfredo Gonzalez, the SP for the Bulls earned a ND despite only allowing 1 run on 2 hits over 8 IP. Tarzan was 1-4 with a double for the Bulls.

Tuesday Notes...

MLB:

CMW's next start will come on Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays. He will be rematched against Roy Halladay - the last time he faced Roy and the Jays, Wang had his worst outing of the season.

NPB:

The Eagles lost to the Fighters 2-0. EY Lin made a successful return to the parent club and pitched one perfect inning in relief. He K'd 2 batters in the 8th inning. Box

Other:

China has withdrawn from the Baseball World Cup due to scheduling conflicts; Thailand has been chosen to replace China.

Monday Briefs...

Amateur:

photo from Liberty Times


KW CHENG
photo from Apple Daily

Chinese Culture University won the just completed collegiate tourney (Mei-Hua Flag Tourney) today, winning 8-1 in the championship game. The star of the game was CCU's SP Kai-Wen Cheng who allowed 1 run on 3 hits over 7 IP - he also had 6 K's. Cheng is a former youth and junior NT standout, who won the 2000 Bronco Division Pony League World Series and basically single-handedly defeated the Cuban junior NT and shut down the US junior NT last year. The CCU team was loaded with talent as the roster also included: RHP Chia-Jen Lo (who throws in the low 90's), sidearmer RHP Chen-Hua Lin, & recent HS graduate C Chia-Chu Chen.

Other stars in the tourney included IF/C Chun-Hsiu Chen who hit the most HR's and had the most RBI's in the tourney and LHP Hung-Cheng Lai who was 2-0 in the tourney with a sparkling 0.00 ERA.*Updated*

Sunday in the CPBL..

CPBL:
Elephants 2 - Bears 1: Elephants 1B Chin-Yong Wang was selected game MVP after driving in the GW run with his 3rd HR of the season in the 8th inning - he was 2-3 with a RBI. Joey Dawley earned his 9th win of the season (8 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 8 K's, 5 BB). Other Elephants in the lineup: CYC was 0-3 with a RBI, CF Cheng-Wei Huang was 4-4 with a double. For the Bears, CFC was 2-3 with a double while SP Wen-Hsiung Hsu earned a ND after allowing 1 run on 8 hits over 7 IP.

Lions 4 - Cobras 1: Pete Munro won his 13th game of the season and earned game MVP honors. He threw 8 innings, allowing 1 run on 8 hits to go along with 5 K's and 0 walks. Tilson Brito was 2-4 while KC Kao was 1-4 with a double and 2 RBI's. CH Hsieh was 1-4 for the Cobras while teammate RF Yang was 3-4.

CMW Roughed Up...

MLB:
Josh Beckett spun a gem against the Yankees, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits over 7 IP - he also K'd 7. With the win, Beckett propelled himself into the AL Cy Young forefront and is the only 19 game winner in the ML's. Wang was outdueled by Beckett as he gave up 5 runs on 9 hits over 5.2 innings. Telling stat of the night for CMW: 6 GO's/8 FO's - obviously his sinker wasn't effective against the Sox. The Yankees lost 10-1. Wang falls to 18-7 on the year and his ERA stands at 3.82. Box/Recap



CPBL:
Lions 17 - Cobras 12: The Lions won in a laugher as the two teams combined for 42 hits! Game MVP honors went to Lions 2B Sen Yang who was 4-4 with HR #8 and was 4-4 with 3 RBI's. Other Lions notables: TB was 3-6 with a double and a RBI/KC Kao was 2-6 with a RBI/Fu-Hao Liu was 2-2 with a double and 2 RBI's/Sung-Hsien Yang was 3-5 with a triple and a RBI/Wu-Hsiung Pan was 4-6 with a double and 3 RBI's. For the Cobras, CH Hsieh was 2-5 with a double and a RBI/Ming-Jen Kuo was 4-6 with a RBI.

Elephants 5 - Bears 4: Despite earning a ND for the Elephants, SP Pao-Hsien Wu earned game MVP honors after allowing 2 runs on 5 hits over 6 IP - to go along with 4 K's and 3 walks. Offensively for the Elephants, CYC was 2-3 with 2 doubles, Chia-Chia was 1-1 with a double and a RBI as a PH, and LF Ming-Hsien Lin collected 3 hits. For the Bears, CFC was 0-2 with 2 walks while 3B Chin-Ping Lin was 2-4 with a RBI and LF Yan-Wei Shih was 2-3 with a RBI.



Other:
There's a new site called East Windup Chronicle that has some good insight on the amateur baseball scene in Taiwan - one of the authors is a part-time MLB scout there.

Friday CPBL Scores...

CPBL:
Lions 10 - Elephants 1: Lions SP Chih-Chiang Chang won game MVP honors and his 3rd game of the season. He allowed 1 run on 5 hits over 8 innings - he had 3 K's and 3 walks allowed. Lions 2B Sen Yang hit his 7th HR of the season and was 1-3 with 2 RBI's. Other Lions hitters: T. Brito was 2-5 with a RBI/KC Kao was 2-4 with a double and a RBI. For the Elephants, Chia-Chia was 0-1 and CYC was 1-4 with a double.

Bulls 1 - Whales 1: Alfredo Gonzalez won his 9th game of the season for the Bulls in impressive fashion - AG allowed 1 run on 5 hits over 7 IP - to go along with 2 K's and 2 walks. Whales starter Fu-Te Ni got shelled, giving up HR's to Tarzan - his 18th of the season (he was 2-5 with a RBI) and game MVP Kuo-Long Hsu - his 7th on the year (he was 3-4 with a double and 3 RBI's).


MLB:
-Good read on tomorrow's big matchup between the Yanks and Red Sox. The game is supposedly on Fox tomorrow at 12:55 PM Pacific.
-Article on the Yanks potential pitching rotation

Hu's HR....

Vs. Brett Tomko and the SD Padres 9/11/07:

Thursday News...

MLB:
An update on HC Kuo - Kuo's been shutdown (most likely for the rest of the season).



NPB:
News reports in Taiwan are mentioning that Ying-Chieh Lin may get released by the Rakuten Eagles soon - YC Lin initially signed a 2-year contract that expires at the end of this season. YC Lin struggled last season with the Eagles and followed that up with a poor showing in the minors this year.

Fellow Eagle, En-Yu Lin is expected to participate in the NPB Fall League - also known as the Phoenix League. Wei-Yin Chen of the Chunichi Dragons is also expected to play in the Phoenix League - Chen is making a comeback from TJ surgery.

CPBL:

Bulls 3 - Whales 2: Chien-Fu Yang won his 7th game of the season with another impressive performance. Yang pitched 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits - to go along with 6 K's and no walks allowed. CFY's only mistake of the night was a solo HR allowed in the top of the 6th to Yong-Che Chen. The Whales would tack on one more run in the 9th on another solor HR, this time by Jen-Chieh Hsu. Backing up Yang for the Bulls was Tarzan who was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI's and 2B Chih-Wei Chen who was 2-4 with a double and a RBI. Game MVP honors went to CF Yang.

A First for Hu....

MLB:

CL Hu had his first ML hit last night against the SD Padres - it was a PH home run! Box/Recap

CPBL:
Bears 11 - Lions 8: The Bears won in extra innings thanks to Chih-Tsung Chiang who smacked a 2-run double in the top of the 10th - it was his only hit in 6 AB's. Chiang earned game MVP honors. Former ML'er Mac Suzuki earned his second victory with the Bears as he threw 4.1 innings of relief, allowing 1 run on 2 hits - he had 4 K's and 1 walk. CFC was 1-4.

Tilson Brito cracked his 29th HR of the year for the Lions and was 2-4 with 3 RBI's. Teammate Fu-Hao Liu hit HR #8 and was 3-5.

Elephants 12 - Cobras 3: CYC earned game MVP honors after a 4-4, double, and 3 RBI performance on the night. Chia-Chia was 2-3 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI's. Elephants 3B Jui-Chen Chen was 3-4 with a double and 3 RBI's. For the Cobras, CH Hsieh was 2-3 with a double and a RBI.

Hsieh Slams 3!

CPBL:

Lions 5 - Bears 1: Pete Munro won his 12th game of the season, shutting down the Bears offense - allowing 1 run on 8 hits over 7 innings. He received support from game MVP Chih-Kang Kao who was 3-4 with a double and a RBI. Lions sluggers TB and KC Kao were a combined 2-7 with a RBI. For the Bears, Kevin Huang lost his 5th game of the season and CFC was 0-5.

Cobras 17 - Elephants 4: The Cobras were led by sluggers Hung-Yuan Lin who hit HR #12 and was 2-4 with 3 RBI's, and game MVP CH Hsieh who smacked HR's #16,17, & 18 and was 5-5 with 6 RBI's! For the Elephants, Chia-Chia was 1-2, CYC was 0-3. Elephants 3B Jui-Chen Chen was 2-3 with a double and 3 RBI's.


NPB:
The Lions lost 8-1. MC Hsu pitched 2.2 innings in relief, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits (including a HR). Box


MLB:
Wang being mentioned as an AL Cy Young candidate
Wang deserves being mentioned as a candidate (He's got the wins and doesn't serve up many HR's) but does not have the peripheral numbers (K's, WHIP, ERA, etc.) that the other front-runners have.
Wang has now been officially penciled in as the starter on Saturday against Josh Beckett and the Red Sox. This is a HUGE matchup - should Wang win this game, that would help strengthen his argument for the award (and vice versa for Beckett if he wins on Saturday). *Updated*

Monday CPBL...

CPBL:
Bulls 10 - Cobras 2: Iba Tomokazu won his 9th game of the season - he allowed 2 runs on 9 hits over 6 IP. IT received support from Chien-Ming Chang who hit his 1st HR of the season and was 3-5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI's/Chung-Yi Huang was 3-5 with a RBI and was voted game MVP/Tarzan was 2-5 with a RBI. For the Cobras, CH Hsieh was 2-4 while Chuan-Chia Wang was 2-4 with a double and drove in both runs.

2007 Minor League Pitchers - Final Stats...

Name	Team	W	L	ERA	IP	SO	BB	SV	BA
1)Ching-Lung Lo	Tulsa (AA)	8	8	5.61	139.2	87	66	0	.300
2)Sung-Wei Tseng	Kinston (A+)	6	9	4.05	140.0	92	47	0	.250
3)Chi-Hung Cheng	Auburn (A ss)	1	1	2.77	13.0	13	7	0	.178
	GCL Blue Jays (R)	0	2	6.52	9.2	11	7	0	.225
	2007 TOTAL	1	3	4.37	22.2	24	14	0	.200
4)Po-Hsuan Keng	Lansing (A)	1	5	4.50	54	51	22	6	.253
5)Sheng-An Kuo	Tri-City (A ss)	5	4	4.69	71	58	32	0	.271
6)Yen-Feng Lin	Williamsport (A ss)	0	2	3.64	29.2	21	17	3	.227
7)Wang-Yi Lin	GCL Red Sox (R)	2	1	1.31	20.2	8	6	1	.227
8)Po-Yu Lin	Bristol (R)	6	5	3.30	62.2	65	17	0	.280
9)Tzu-Kai Chiu	GCL Reds (R)	3	4	3.42	52.2	47	8	0	.239
10)Hung-Wen Chen	Boise (A ss)	1	0	3.60	5	2	1	0	.188
	AZL Cubs (R)	0	0	10.12	2.2	3	0	0	.273
	2007 TOTAL	1	0	5.87	7.2	5	1	0	.222
11)Chen-En Hong	NA
12)Chia-An Huang	NA

Based on this year's performances, it's pretty safe to say that the next Wang, Kuo, or Tsao is not on the list above. The injury bug was widespread as CE Hong was put on the 60-day DL and lost for the season; WY Lin had TJ surgery; CH Cheng missed most of the season after labrum surgery; and HW Chen had his US debut delayed secondary to "arm fatigue."

Minor league veterans - CL Lo and PH Keng had disappointing seasons. Hitters teed off on Lo, as he allowed 20 HR's and batters averaged .300 against him. Keng regressed as he repeated another year in Lansing. YF Lin again did not play much - and when he did he was utilized as a reliever. As for CA Huang, the Mariners are holding out hope that he will return next season - there's been too much invested and so little in return there.

The new kids on the block showed some promise as:

• SW Tseng played in High A ball and arguably held his own in his first year overseas. At first glance, his 4.05 ERA seems pretty high, but in the Carolina League, his ERA was ranked #18 overall while his WHIP of 1.26 was in the top 10 in the league.
• TK Chiu had an impressive first year, ranking in the top 10 in the GCL with a 1.08 WHIP, and demonstrating tremendous control - walking only 8 batters > for a K/BB ratio of nearly 6:1.
• PY Lin ranked #7 in ERA and #8 in K's in the Appy League. He also averaged > 1 K/IP and had a K/BB ratio of 4:1. The only knock on Lin is that he was a 20 year old competing in rookie ball.
• SA Kuo did not fare as well as the three above, demonstrating some control issues, although his GO/AO ratio of 2.10 was impressive - suggesting that he's got a good sinker.
• HW Chen's sample size was too small to judge how he did - so we'll reserve judgement for next year.

Cards of the Month - CH Lin & CH Chiang Autos...

The 2007 Just Minors product includes two of Taiwan's finest young prospects in the US: CH Chiang and CH Lin. Bid early and often!

Two Away From 20!

MLB:
CMW picked up his 18th win of the season against the KC Royals, joining Josh Beckett as the ML leaders in that category. Wang struggled with his control (90 PC - 52 called strikes) but still managed to pull out the win, throwing 7 innings, allowing 3 runs (all in the 4th inning - on a 3 run double to rookie Alex Gordon) on 5 hits to go along with 4 K's and 4 walks. A-Rod hit HR #52 to help power the Yanks offense to a 6-3 win. Box/Recap 1/Recap 2
Wang's next scheduled start will probably be against the Boston Red Sox this coming weekend.



CPBL:
Lions 18 - Bulls 4: Despite falling behind 2-0, Wei-Lun Pan earned his 14th victory of the season after an offensive outburst by his teammates - the team would score 12 runs in the 5th inning alone!! Pan allowed 2 runs on 8 hits over 5 IP - he had 6 K's and 2 walks. Game MVP - Lions RF Fu-Hao Liu was 3-3 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI's. Other Lions notables: TB was 2-5 with a double and 2 RBI's/KC Kao was 2-4/Chih-Kang Kao was 1-2 with HR #5 and 3 RBI's. For the Bulls, SS Chao-Hsing Cheng hit HR #8 and Tarzan was 2-3.

Whales 9 - Elephants 2: Wei-Ming Chu picked up win #5 for the Whales, as he allowed 2 runs on 7 hits over 6 IP. WMC received support from game MVP CF Jen-Chieh Hsu who was 2-4 with a triple and 4 RBI's/DH Chia-Hung Chen hit HR #3 off loser TJ Yeh and was 2-4 with a double/Carlos Villalobos was 1-3 with a double and 2 RBI's/Chang-Long Yeh was 2-3 with 2 doubles and a RBI. Chia-Chia was 1-3 for the Elephants and teammate CY Chen was 0-4 - catcher Chih-Hung Chen hit HR #2 and drove in the only runs for the Elephants.

2007 Minor League Positional Players Final Stats...

NAME	TEAM	AB's	2B's	3B's	HR's	RBI's	SB	BB	SO	BA
1)Chin-Lung Hu	Las Vegas (AAA)	192	10	1	8	28	3	6	18	.318
	Jacksonville (AA)	325	30	5	6	34	12	26	33	.329
	2007 TOTAL	517	40	6	14	62	15	32	51	.325
2)Yung-Chi Chen	Tacoma (AAA)	15	2	0	0	3	1	0	3	.333
3)Kuo-Hui Lo	Wisconsin (A)	358	21	7	4	37	32	45	86	.288
4)Che-Hsuan Lin	Lowell (A ss)	43	2	0	0	3	3	5	10	.163
	GCL Red Sox (R)	175	10	6	4	22	14	17	42	.263
	2007 TOTAL	218	12	6	4	25	17	22	52	.243
5)Chih-Hsien Chiang	Greenville (A)	355	27	2	5	41	1	22	81	.262
6)Chih-Hsiang Huang	GCL Red Sox (R)	116	8	0	0	9	1	10	27	.207
7)Wang-Wei Lin	GCL Twins (R)	62	4	1	0	4	4	6	25	.194
8)Chih-Hsiang Wen	AZL Cubs (R)	51	0	0	0	1	5	9	26	.176
9)Chao-Kuan Wu	Kinston (A+)	25	0	0	0	1	0	3	3	.280

• Well, as you can see from above, Ching-Lung Hu was by far the best Taiwanese positional player in the minors. For his outstanding season, Hu - who earned multiple awards this season, was rewarded with a September call-up to the Majors. Status: Red Hot

• Kuo-Hui Lo had an excellent season at the plate - after a slow start to the season (in April) - Lo picked things up nicely - tying for 12th in the Midwest League with a .288 BA and 5th in the league with 32 SB's (he now holds the record for a Taiwanese minor leaguer in that category). Perhaps the only disappointing part about his season was the lack of firepower - 4 HR's in 358 AB's. Status: On the Rise
  

• Che-Hsuan Lin earned rave reviews for his defensive prowess - he also showed some flashes of power but will need to hone his batting skills in order to truly fulfill his vast potential. However, let's not forget that he's only 18 and it was his first season overseas. Status: Holding Steady
  

• As for CH Chiang, he was hot in XST and during the first and last month of play. However during the two months in between, Chiang really struggled at the plate - and let's not forget that Chiang's best tool is his bat and the ability to make contact. Still only 19, Chiang failed to live up to lofty expectations that were placed on him. Status: Down Arrow

• As for YC Chen, he was hurt all season - hopefully he can recover fully from shoulder surgery and continue to build on the tremendous season he had last year. Status: Incomplete
  

• CK Wu retired and that's that. Status: End of the Line

• As for CH Hsiang, WW Lin, and CH Wen, I hope for their sake that they still have an opportunity to play in the US next year. Status: Double Down Arrow