News Updates

*Indians farmhand Chen-Chang Lee was named the organization's minor league pitcher of the year.

*The Red Sox and Mariners have added Che-Hsuan Lin and Chih-Hsien Chiang to their 40 man roster.

*Over in Taiwan, in the recently completed collegiate tourney, a few pitchers were clocked in the low 90's:
Lefty Sheng-Hsiung Huang topped out at 93 mph






Righty Rui-Jing Weng topped out at 90 mph

19 year old righty Chun-Lin Kuo helped lead his squad to the tourney championship, pitching a shutout and K'ing 9 in the process.   He was also clocked at 93 mph in the game.   Kuo was impressive earlier last month against the MLB All-Star traveling squad. 






Righty Hung-Chieh Shih hit 91 mph.






*Nippon Ham Fighters OF Dai-Kang Yang fired his rep - Octagon and is now represented by Sports Biz.

*Cubs minor leaguer RHP Yao-Lin Wang and Yankees farmhand INF/OF Fu-Lin Kuo may have to serve in the military if called upon as their agent misunderstood the rules and had both players drop out of college.   Without student status, they will need to serve in the military if called upon. The CTBA and Octagon are pointing fingers at each other over this gaffe.

*Update on Kuo-Hui Lo's injury status

*The Samsung Lions won the 2011 Asia Series.  

*Kai-Wen Cheng and Yi-Hao Lin earned some recognition for their 2011 performances in the NPB minors.   

FL Kuo Press Announcement....

*Here's some pics of Fu-Lin Kuo at his official press announcement in Chiayi:

*The Dodgers could be heading back to Taiwan next year.

The Yankees Sign INF Fu-Lin Kuo.....

Well, it took a while, but the NY Yankees (local scout: Ken Su) finally got around to signing their second player out of Taiwan (CMW was their first and only signing back in 2000). 18 year old INF (played 3B in HS)Fu-Lin Kuo was inked to a ~$150 K signing bonus by the MLB World Champs. The Octagon client (rep: Kelvin Lee) is a former junior ('08) and youth ('06) NT member. He joins recent Cubs signee INF Ping-Chieh Chen as another player from HS powerhouse Nan-Ying to sign with a ML club.

Here's a detailed bio of Kuo that I posted back in September of '08.

Pics of Kuo from his HS days

*Edited

Injury News and Prospect Updates...

MLB:
HC Kuo Update





CPBL:
No games on the slate - it's the All-Star Game Weekend





MLBAAP:
MH Tsai 1-2, RBI / PH Chi 2-4 / CW Hsu 0-2





MILB:
R - TK Chiu S (1), 3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 5 K's, 0 BB's

R - WC Huang L 0-1, 1.2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 K, 2 BB's

A ss - CH Chen 2-3, BB

A+ - HC Kuo 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 K's, 0 BB's

A+ - CH Lin 2-4, HR (6), BB, 2 RBI

AA - CJ Lo 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 K's/BB's

AAA - CL Hu 2-6, HR (3), 2 RBI

AAA - YC Chen 0-3






Other News and Injury Updates:
*NPB Prospects:
The Yokohama BayStars are bringing 3 Taiwanese pitchers: LHP Hua-Wei Lo (San-Hsin), RHP Wen-Hao Cheng (Mei-Ho), LHP Kuan-Yu Chen (Ku-Pao) over to Japan for a workout.


*Injury Updates:
*Former Nan-Ying HS 3B Fu-Lin Kuo reportedly has a compression fracture of his L1 vertebrae and had been doing rehab in Tainan. It is unknown if surgery is in his future; he has also had a previous history of knee surgery.

*Former Qiang-Shu HS ace RHP Yu-Hsun Chen has recovered from TJ surgery.

*Red Sox farmhand RHP Wang-Yi Lin is rehabbing from a shoulder injury.

*Twins minor leaguer OF Wang-Wei Lin suffered significant injuries to his jaw and oral cavity in a collison with his teammate, going after a fly ball. He had surgery for his injuries, and has returned to Taiwan to recover. After a promising start to his 2009 campaign, his season is officially over after having his 3rd surgery since signing with the Twins.

Nan-Ying (Tainan City) Wins Yet Again......

CPBL:
Lions 5 - Bears 2:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Bears	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	6	0
Lions	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	9	1

Attendance: 3,569

WP - Mickey Callaway (5-3, 6 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 4 K's, 1 BB)
LP - Mike Johnson (1-1, 5 IP, 4 R - 3 ER, 7 H, 5 K's, 3 BB's)

Offense:
Lions:
SS Tung-Yi Yang 1-5, SB, RBI
LF Tai-Chi Kuo 2-3, 2B, 2 BB's, 2 RBI - game MVP
1B KC Kao 1-4, RBI
DH Lien-Hung Chen 0-4
CF Feng-Pin Hsu 2-4, SB, RBI

Bears:
2B Chih-Sheng Lin 1-4, 2B
DH CFC 1-4, HR (15), RBI

CFC's 15th HR

Bulls 4 - Elephants 1:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Bulls	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	9	0
Elephants	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	5	1

Attendance: 4,154

WP - Shoda Itsuki (6-2, 7.2 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 5 K's, 3 BB's) - game MVP
LP - Yu-Cheng Liao (5-2, 5.1 IP, 4 R - 3 ER, 8 H, 0 K's, 3 BB's)

Offense:
Bulls:
LF Da-Hung Cheng 2-4
1B Yi-Chuan Lin 1-3
DH Tarzan 0-3, RBI
3B Wilton Veras 3-4, 2 2B's
C Chun-Chang Yeh 1-4, 2 RBI

Elephants:
2B Chiang-Ho Chen 1-4, RBI

Vid Game Highlights

Yu-Shan Cup:
Nan-Ying laid its claim to the most dominant HS baseball program on the island as it won yet another major HS baseball tourney title (last Yu-Shan Cup title was 6 years ago - won the Taiwan Cup in March, HS Wood Bat Tourney in December). Nan-Ying (Tainan City) defeated Kaohsiung City (San-Hsin/San Min HS) 7-0 in the championship game. Tourney MVP Keng-Hao Chang (clocked at a high of 91 mph) not only extended his scoreless streak to 58 innings, but he also defeated the tourney's other outstanding staff ace - Yao-Lin Wang (San-Hsin HS).

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tainan City	2	1	1	0	0	3	0			7	8	0
Kaohsiung City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			0	3	2

WP - Keng-Hao Chang
LP - Yao-Lin Wang


Taoyuan Couny earned third in the tourney with a 2-1 win over Taitung County.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Taitung County	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	1
Taoyuan County	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	2	10	1

WP - Ming-Chieh Lu
LP - Kao-Chen Chu
S - Shuo-Feng Tseng

*Other Tourney Finishers:
5)Kaohsiung County
6)Yilan County
7)Taichung City
8)Taipei City

*Tourney Awards:
Top BA: Fu-Lin Kuo (Tainan City) .485
Most RBI: Fu-Lin Kuo (Tainan City) 16
Top Pitcher: Keng-Hao Chang (Tainan City) 2 Wins / 0.00 ERA
Most HR: Tai-Yan Kuo (Taoyuan County) 1
MVP: Keng-Hao Chang

Yu-Shan Cup All-Stars:
1)P - Tien-Ting Lee (Tainan City)
2)C - Shao-Ming Ke (Ko) (Taoyuan County)
3)1B - Pei-Hua Hu (Taitung County)
4)2B - Ping-Chieh Chen (Tainan City)
5)3B - Fu-Lin Kuo (Tainan City)
6)SS - Han-Hsin Lin (Kaohsiung City)
7)OF - Keng-Hao Chang (Tainan City)
8)OF - Chih-Tang Pan (Taoyuan County)
9)OF - Wei-Kang Sung (Kaohsiung City)
10)DH - Kuo-Lin Lo (Kaohsiung County)




MILB:
A - YW Kuo 1-4, RBI

A+ - CH Chiang 0-3, BB / CH Lin 0-4

A+ - KH Lo 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, OF Assist

AAA - CL Hu 3-5, SB (7), 2 RBI



MLB:
CMW Article
Next Start: Wed vs. Tim Wakefield & the Red Sox


NPB:
Tigers 4 - Hawks 3: WC Lin 1-1
*Updated

Amateur Player News...

CPBL:
May MVP's (stats from May):

Hitting: Yi-Chuan Lin (Bulls) .415 BA / 94 AB / 39 H / 5 HR / 23 RBI
Pitching: Aaron Rakers (Bears) 2 W - 1 L / 35.1 IP / 2.29 ERA / 22 K's / 7 BB's


Standings:

Team	W	D	L	GB	WP
Bears	25	1	17	--	0.595
Lions	23	2	19	2	0.548
Bulls	22	2	20	3	0.524
Elephants	15	1	29	11	0.341

Other:
*Agent Chien-Chen Chen's client RHP Yao-Lin Wang is getting interest from multiple teams including the Cubs and Twins.

*Bros client RHP Chun-Chen Chiang had a workout in front of scouts last week; he topped out at 91 and showed a feel for the changeup.

*Octagon clients: INF Fu-Lin Kuo reportedly recevied an offer of $30 K from the Twins, while INF Wei-Da Su was offered $20 K from the same team.

*RHP Ming-Chieh Lin has only topped out 86 mph in the tourney.

*The Elite Eight:

The final eight teams standing in the Yu-Shan Cup are striving not only to win the tourney, but also to represent the country in the junior "AAA" Asian championships to be held later this summer (August) in South Korea. The winning team will form the backbone of the NT roster.

Yu-Shan Cup Stats (Top 5):
BA:
1)Tsung-Hua Chan (Taichung County) .818
2)Yu-Te He (Ho) (Yilan County) .800
3)Ting-Lun Chang (Kaohsiung City) .750
4)Chia-Ching Lin (Taichung City) .750
5)Kuo-Lin Lo (Kaoshiung County) .667

HR:
1)Tien-Wei Wang (Taipei City) 1

RBI:
1)Shao-Ming Ke (Ko) (Taoyuan County) 5
2)Chih-Tang Pan (Taoyuan County) 5
3)Wei-Chieh Chou (Taoyuan County) 4
4)Ting-Lun Chang (Kaohsiung City) 4
5)Pei-Hua Hu (Taitung County)

Hits:
1)Tsung-Hua Chan (Taichung County) 9
2)Yu-Fan Tsai (Chiayi City) 7
3)Pei-Hua Hu (Taitung County) 7
4)Sheng-En Yang (Chiayi City) 7
5)Ting-Lun Chang (Kaohsiung City) 6

SB:
1)Hung-Wei Shih (Kaohsiung City) 4
2)Pei-Lun Yang (Taichung City) 3
3)Wen-Chih Tseng (Yilan County) 3
4)Chia-Ching Lin (Taichung City) 2
5)Chun-Hao Wu (Taipei City) 2

OBP:
1)Yu-Te He (Ho) (Yilan County) .875
2)Chia-Ching Lin (Taichung City) .833
3)Tsung-Hua Chan (Taichung County) .818
4)Ting-Lun Chang (Kaohsiung City) .800
5)Wen-Chih Tseng (Yilan County) .750

Wins:
1)Kao-Chen Chu (Taitung County) 1
2)Sheng-Nan Chen (Kaohsiung County) 1
3)Hsiang-Ying Wang (Taitung County) 1
4)Yao-Lin Wang (Kaohsiung City) 1
5)Meng-Chen Fan (Taichung City) 1

ERA:
1)Sheng-Nan Chen (Kaohsiung County) 0.00
2)Yao-Lin Wang (Kaohsiung City) 0.00
3)Chi-Hao Lin (Kaohsiung City) 0.00
4)Meng-Chen Fan (Taichung City) 0.00
5)Chia-Wei Huang (Taitung County) 0.00

K's:
1)Sheng-Nan Chen (Kaohsiung County) 13
2)Yao-Lin Wang (Kaohsiung City) 11
3)Hsiang-Ying Wang (Taitung County) 8
4)Chi-Hao Lin (Kaohsiung City) 8
5)Kuan-Ju Chen (Chiayi County) 8

IP:
1)Kao-Chen Chu (Taitung County) 13.2
2)Sheng-Nan Chen (Kaohsiung County) 9.2
3)Shi-Ying Peng (Taoyuan County) 9
4)Yao-Lin Wang (Kaohsiung City) 9
5)Hsiang-Ying Wang (Taitung County) 9

Saves:
1)Kao-Chen Chu (Taitung County) 1
2)Kuan-Hsun Chen (Chiayi City) 1
3)Cheng-Ting Ke (Ko) (Hsinchu County) 1
4)Che-Min Hsu (Yilan County) 1
5)Yu-Te He (Ho) (Yilan County) 1





MILB:
*YW Kuo - looking good in BP

*CH Cheng 411: "Cheng doesn’t have the velocity to challenge hitters up in the zone, and Hillcats pitching coach Wally Whitehurst has repeatedly stressed that Cheng — and every Hillcat pitcher — attack the lower half of the zone.

“He’s got to understand who he is, and not what he thinks he is,” Whitehurst said. “Everybody likes to throw hard. Some people can and some people can’t. For the most part, he stays within himself and throws the ball down in the strike zone, and he produces a lot of weak swings. He needs to understand that and see that.”

Cheng hasn’t allowed a run in his last two starts. His future in the rotation is uncertain — LHP Bryan Morris continues his rehab in Florida and should be back with the Hillcats soon, and the Pirates’ brass will likely want to see what Morris, a former first-round draft pick, can do in the rotation.

*Indians C Chun-Hsiu Chen has hit 8 HR's so far in XST and is batting around .300


Scores:
AAA - CL Hu 1-4, 2B

AA - HW Chen L 2-5, 3 IP, 8 R - 7 ER, 11 H, 3 K's, 0 BB - 1 HR allowed

A+ - CH Chiang 1-3, 2 RBI, E #3 / CH Lin 0-4, BB

A+ - CC Lee 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 4 K's, 0 BB's

A+ - KH Lo 0-3, BB




MLB:
HC Kuo Update

HS Tourney Notes....

*NY INF Fu-Lin Kuo was a disappointment despite making the all-tourney team; he hit poorly in the game against Chia-Yi HS, a team with subpar talent. Kuo is represented by Octagon's Kelvin Lee, who signed the kid through Nan-Ying HS coach Chen's assistance.

*Kuo's teammate - NY 2B Ping-Chieh Chen had an impressive tourney, regaining some of the lost luster to his top prospect billing. His only problem is whether he can stay at 2B with his lack of agility & range defensively. The Phillies scout in Taiwan spoke with the Nan-Ying HS coach about Chen, who is represented by Bros Sports.

*SY side-armer Po-Cheng Chi strained his shoulder in the tourney but despite this, coach Huang used him in the semi-final game. Not surprisingly, Chi got roughed up against Nan-Ying. His velocity in the tourney was 84-85 mph.

*SH RHP Yao-Lin Wang showed better command in his outing, flashing an average slider, and demonstrated good athleticism on the mound. His velocity was around 87-89 mph, topping out at 90 mph. It appears several teams might be interested in him including the Cubs, Mariners, and D-Rays.





***Congrats to both South Korea and Japan for making it to the championship game of the WBC. I guess it was "destiny" as Ichiro deemed it that the two Asian baseball powers would be the last two standing.

2009 Ta-Tung Cup Player Notes....

Some observations regarding this HS tournament:

Kao-Yuan won the championship game.
EWC's own JB at the tourney.*Updated

Several of the more heralded players had very disappointing showings and saw their stock fall a bit after this tourney:

INF Fu-Lin Kuo--his father and agent Kelvin Lee had been seeking $250-300 K; he showed no average tool at all, batting less than .200 in the tournament with no power, and struggled mightily against mediocre pitching; one international scouting director commented that at most, FL Kuo is worth a couple thousand dollars!

2B Ping-Chieh Chen--Bros Sports had raised his asking price to $300 K after an outstanding performance in the December Wood Bat Tourney. But like FL Kuo, Chen also struggled against mediocre pitching, batting less than .200 in the tourney. He still showed good running speed but demonstrated why his bat is questionable and inconsistent. A couple of teams came just to see him but he certainly disappointed the teams big time.

RHP Chia-Ming Huang--he's got all the potential in the world with his size, smooth delivery and decent makeup but he seems to have lost his velocity since last fall; he had one short outing in which he topped out at 86 mph. He's still only 17 but his time is running out if he wants to get signed after high school.

LHP Kuan-Yu Chen--he's lost 25 kg over the past 6 months and now weighs only 70 kg! Some have suggested that he has a medical condition that is unknown to the public at this time which has yet to be confirmed but this is quite concerning. His velocity is also significantly down while his command and breaking pitches aren't as sharp as before.


-Player that saw his stock rise--none other than INF Wei-Da Su; he hit .700 in the tournament showing a good stroke and demonstrating why he was the #1 positional prospect coming into high school. However the issues with him are still unresolved - there's the unstable family background, not playing all out at times (especially his base-running skills), and lacking a defensive position. The NYY might certainly increase their offer through scout Ken Su but will Su's father actually sign without seeing cash in front of him?

Cream of the Crop: The Class of '09....

The HS class of 2009 is one of the deeper talent pools we've seen come out of Taiwan in quite some time. Young power arms -

Yao-Wen Chang (Mariners)

and Yi-Hao Lin (Giants)

are members of this class who are already off of the table.

So who's left? Let's find out.........
(Info has been gathered from scouts, local coaches, and agents)

High School Seniors (Class '09) Rankings #1-5

1) Chia-Ming Huang RHP/INF
6'3'' 192
T: R B: R
DOB: April 4, 1991
San-Hsin High School, Kaohsiung City--famous graduates--RHP Yao-Wen Chang (Seattle Mariners $400,000)

Despite winning a best pitcher award back during the SARS scare and being pursued by the Boston Red Sox and the NPB's Yakult Swallows since he was 15 years old, he has been somewhat under the radar over the past 2 years after mainly spending time as a power hitting infielder, which limited the number of innings he pitched. He showed his power by hitting a sizable HR against Taitung County's Cheng-Kung Business High School in the 2nd round of 2008's Taiwan Cup High School Tournament. He also got selected to the all-tournament team. But despite his power-hitting potential, his future is likely to be on the mound due to his fluid & smooth delivery. He has a good pro-typical pitcher's frame, good size, and a projectable build. He has a quality arm action that generates good arm strength requiring minimal effort. He is one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the '09 senior class with velocity that tops out at 91 MPH. He has a 3/4 arm slot with a full windup delivery. He has good movement of his fastball but his control and command can become erratic at times, likely as a result of his limited experience on the mound over the past 2 years. He offers a good changeup with above average potential but it can get inconsistent sometimes. He has a split-finger fastball which is decent at times but also inconsistent. He has a slider with late bite that he needs to utilize more to complement his changeup or split-finger fastball. He has strong makeup but will need to develop more confidence on the mound. Huang is of aboriginal descent and not surprisingly, his idol is RHP Chin-Hui Tsao. He has better size and delivery than RHP Tsao (at the same age) already. If he can improve his stuff over the course of this year, he has a chance to be the next top aboriginal pitcher out of Taiwan since Tsao.


2) Wei-Da Su 1B/2B
6'0'' 195
T: R B: L
DOB: November 10, 1990
Taichung Gao-Nong High School, Taichung City--famous graduates--RHP Wang-Yi Lin (Boston Red Sox $58,000), OF Wang-Wei Lin (Minnesota Twins $95,000)

He was highly regarded upon entering high school with a sweet left-handed swing with natural loft, power hitting potential, and a strong arm that allowed him to have velocity as high as 90mph on the mound as a 16 year-old player. He owns the prettiest left-handed swing in Taiwan since Boston Red Sox minor leaguer Chih-Hsien Chiang. However, 2 years later he has been a big disappointment despite his talent. He has had significant knee injuries on two occasions that have turned him into a below average runner. His work ethic has deteriorated in high school. His bat speed is slower. His defensive ability has worsened to the point that his head coach usually only plays him as DH role. Furthermore complicating the matter is his unstable family condition--his father is a rumored alcoholic. Despite all of these disappointments, he still managed to win the 2008 Taiwan Cup High School Tournament batting crown by hitting .675 and was the home run champion. However, his performance in the recent PONY tournament (Palomino World Series) was just so-so. He still has very good talent but it is unclear if he will be able to overcome these issues.


3) Tzu-An Wang RHP
6'5'' 190
T: R B: R
DOB: October 9, 1990
San-Hsin High School, Kaohsiung City--famous graduates--RHP Yao-Wen Chang (Seattle Mariners $400,000)

Under the radar and relatively unknown, Wang is the dark horse in this year's class. He has "projection" and "raw potential" written all over him. But he is a high risk, high reward type of prospect which is why he is ranked #3 on this list. You cannot blame him for being raw because he started playing baseball just 3 years ago; he was a basketball player and also ran track and field prior to becoming a baseball player. As one can likely conclude--he is a good athlete. He has the size that most Asian pitchers do not have. And despite his height, he has a decent delivery; however he only pitches from the stretch. With his height, he creates a very good angle to his pitches, especially having a high 3/4 arm slot. He has above average arm speed and already has a fastball that tops out at 89 MPH. His out-pitch is a split-finger fastball that can be nasty at times because of his height. He also has been working on a changeup and a curveball to complement his split-finger fastball. To top things off, he has a strong work ethic and has made significant strides to his delivery and velocity over the past 2 years. The main weaknesses with him are his erratic control and command and his limited experience. If he can improve in these areas, he could possibly move to #1 on this list in the near future.


4) Fu-Lin Kuo 3B/SS
5'11'' 187
T: R B: R
DOB: January 7, 1991
Nan-Ying High School, Tainan City--famous graduates--LHP Hong-Chih Kuo (LA Dodgers $1.25 million), CF Che-Hsuan Lin (Boston Red Sox $400,000), SS Ching-Lung Hu (LA Dodgers $150,000), RHP Wei-Chen Huang (Atlanta Braves $125,000), SS Yen-Wen Kuo (Cincinnati Reds $120,000)

He has been followed closely since playing on the youth national team that participated in the Asia Cup held in Jakarta, Indonesia, 2 years ago. He adjusted slowly to the wood bat initially but has made significant strides over the past year. He has decent all-around tools and probably was the best player on the 2008 IBAF Taiwanese junior national team. He has the potential to hit for average and gap power. He has good bat control. His bat speed is just average but should get faster with strength training. His arm is close to average as he does have decent arm strength since he was the ace of his junior high school team when he was 15 years old. He has soft hands and the potential to have average range. His best future position is probably at second base because he does not have the power and arm strength to play 3rd base, which is the position he frequently plays in high school. He might have a shot at shortstop but does not have the natural fielding prowess that one might like to see. He does not run fast because he had knee surgery back in junior high school and most likely his running speed will continue to suffer as he puts on more weight in the future. He has a good work ethic but tends to over think at times while up at the plate. Overall, he is a poor man's version of Seattle Mariners 2B Yung-Chi Chen. He does not have the defensive ability of Los Angeles Dodgers SS Ching-Lung Hu nor the hitting/power potential of Boston Red Sox 2B Chih-Hsien Chiang.


5) Cheng-Hao Wang RHP5'10'' 194
T: R B: R
DOB: September 25, 1989
Taichung Gao-Nong High School, Taichung City--famous graduates--RHP Wang-Yi Lin (Boston Red Sox $58,000), OF Wang-Wei Lin (Minnesota Twins $95,000)

He is a year older than all the players in the senior class because he started elementary school a year late - but he is the hardest throwing high school pitcher in the class of '09 as of now--he tops out at 92 MPH. He uses a quick arm to generate average velocity as his fastball sits in the 87-92 MPH range. His delivery is just okay but he does have a strong lower body. He complements his fastball with a slider and split-finger fastball, both are below average offerings at this time with the slider having a better chance of becoming an average pitch. He had lacked pitchability previously with poor command and control but he has improved on these aspects quite a bit over the past year. He has the potential to have above average velocity but there has been some question about his learning ability. He had some family issues in terms of guardianship but his high school head coach Lee was kind enough to take the responsibility and become his guardian. His signing bonus expectation is in the $200-300,000 range.

Silver Lining.....

It's been a tough summer - no championships in major amateur events and a crash & burn showing in the Olympics. However, no matter the results, you can always find a positive in all of the negativity surrounding the lack of success.

First off, the junior National Team: MLB signees: RHP Yao-Wen Chang (10/31/90), C Meng-Hsiu Tsai (5/13/90), RHP Wei-Chen Huang (3/6/1990), RHP Hsin-Hong Tsai (4/24/90) & NPB signee RHP Yi-Hao Lin (1/2/91) were all age-eligible prospects who were not on the junior NT roster. Several other prominent names were also left off of the junior NT - you can thank the Ku-Pao HS coach for his selections (9 of the 20 kids selected were from Ku-Pao while 8 other selections were from the teams that placed 2nd - 4th at the 2008 Yu-Shan Cup). It would've been nice (and made more sense) if the selection process for the junior NT was similar to the model the USA follows. Still the team only had one blowout loss and lost to the eventual champs by 1 run - all this despite the much hyped Rong-Hao Hsieh ('06 youth NT, '07 junior NT) being a major disappointment. RHP Che-Ming Su, OF Yen-Ju Chen, IF Yu-Hsiang Chen, and IF Fu-Lin Kuo ('06 youth NT) all performed well. FL Kuo (who's game is similar to Reds prospect Yen-Wen Kuo) may be the team's best pro-prospect. Heralded youngster - IF Wei-Chen Wang ('07 youth NT) had a rough go as a 17 year old on the international stage.

Fu-Lin Kuo

*FL Kuo's Blog/Album



Rong-Hao Hsieh
*RH Hsieh's Blog/Album



Wei-Chen Wang
*WC Wang's Blog/Album

Regarding the Pony Baseball Organization, despite failing to win a championship this summer, all three reps from Taiwan earned the runner-up position in their respective World Series. Several kids have established themselves as names to remember for the future and will hopefully follow in the footsteps of those before them.

At the Palomino World Series: prospects Wei-Da Su, RHP's Cheng-Hao Wang & Po-Cheng Chi (side-arm release, 91 mph fb) headlined the team from Taichung.

Wei-Da Su
*WD Su's Album/Blog

At the Pony World Series: last year's two Little League stars Chao-Min Wang and Chi-Yuan Chen made the jump up a level. CY Chen looked impressive at the plate (he's corrected that Eric Davis-like awkward batting stance he used last year), showed good speed on the basepaths, and flashed nice range and a strong arm at SS. Nonetheless, the team was also led by slugger Li-Jen Chu (physically mature for his age) and staff ace Lee-Wei Chiang (tall and very projectable - he's Yu-Hung Lee's little brother).

Chen & Wang

Chi-Yuan Chen
*CY Chen's Blog/Album

Lee-Wei Chiang
*LW Chiang's Blog/Album

Lee-Jen Chu

Much like last year's LL dynamic duo of Wang and Chen, the Bronco World Series reps were led by two promising youngsters: Chia-Ming Tu and Kuan-Yi Lee.

Juniors Place 5th at World Championships.....

World Junior Championships:
Just like in 2006, Taiwan finished 5th at this year's World Junior Championships. Taiwan sealed the deal by beating the host nation Canada 11-4. SP Kuan-Yu Chen (here's his blog/album) earned the win while #3 and 4 hitters Yu-Hsiang Chen and Fu-Lin Kuo blasted the team's first and only home runs of the tourney (back-to-back in the 4th inning). Box/Recap/Final Team Stats
Meanwhile in the day's other action, South Korea defended its world crown by shutting down perennial power - the US, 7-0. Cuba garnered third place with a 6-2 win over Australia.

Fu-Lin Kuo

Yu-Hsiang Chen

Leading the way offensively for the team were infielders Yu-Hsiang Chen (here's his blog/album) and Fu-Lin Kuo and OF Yen-Ju Chen (here's his blog/album).

YH Chen hit .355 in 31 AB's with 1 HR, 4 2B's, 5 BB's, 3 SB's, 2 RBI's
YJ Chen hit .346 in 26 AB's with 2 2B's, 4 BB's, 6 SB's, 3 RBI's
FL Kuo hit .323 in 31 AB's with 1 HR, 1 3B, 3 2B's, 0 BB's, 2 SB's, 7 RBI's

Performance-wise, Che-Ming Su was the top pitcher for Taiwan.
In 20 innings, he had an 0.90 ERA, picked up 2 W's and a Save, while K'ing 19.

All-in-all, the team did fairly well (aside from getting slammed by Cuba), losing to the eventual champs by 1 run, avenging an earlier loss to Canada, and they did all of this with ace Rong-Hao Hsieh having perhaps the worst performance in his young career.

Che-Ming Su vs. Brett Lawrie


Kuan-Yu Chen vs. Brett Lawrie


Chia-Liang Hung vs. Mexico


For more coverage of the junior NT, check out this guy's vids.



MILB:
R - The GCL Reds won 2-0, completing a game from 7/24th - YW Kuo was 0-1 on that day. TK Chiu is also back for the Reds (missed this earlier).

AAA - Vegas lost 1-0. CL Hu was 1-3 with a double, a BB, and committed his first error with Vegas. Box


MLB:
The Dodgers beat the D-Backs 9-3. Kuo threw 1.1 scoreless innings. Box

Juniors Beat Puerto Rico.......

World Junior Championships:

Che-Ming Su

Yu-Hsiang Chen

Taiwan beat Puerto Rico 2-1 in 11 innings to lock up the #3 spot in their pool. Game MVP? That would go to SP Che-Ming Su, who threw a CG (11 innings), allowing 1 unearned run on 4 hits. Su has now thrown 16 innings without allowing an ER and owns 2 of Taiwan's victories. The #3 and 4 hitters in the lineup continued to hit well (1B Yu-Hsiang Chen was 2-5 with a double/.368 BA overall while SS Fu-Lin Kuo was 1-5 with a double/.333 BA overall) Box
The team will now play an extremely talented South Korean squad tomorrow. The winner will advance to the semifinals. Jiayo!


CPBL:
Whales 3 - Bulls 2:
WP - Chang-Wei Tu (3-6, 6.2 IP, 1 R, 9 H, 0 K's/BB's) - game MVP
LP - Jeff Farnsworth (1-2, 2.1 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 1 K, 2 BB's)

Whales lineup:
SS Yi-Min Wang 4-5, 2B
RF Hsin-Min Wang 2-4, RBI
3B Wilton Veras 1-4, 2B, RBI
C Yi-Wei Lee 0-4, RBI

Bulls lineup:
LF Hsien-Ming Yu 2-5
RF Chien-Ming Chang 1-4
DH Mike Vento 2-4
3B Tarzan 2-4, 2B, RBI
1B Kuo-Long Hsu 2-4
C Hsun-? Lin 1-1, HR #1, RBI - off the bench


Lions 5 - Elephants 4:
WP - Cheng-Feng Lin (2-2, 2.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K, 1 BB) - game MVP
LP - Kobayashi Ryokan (6-5, 6.1 IP, 5 R - 3 ER, 8 H, 5 K's, 2 BB)

Lions lineup:
CF Kan-Lin Huang 2-4, RBI
DH Lien-Hung Chen 2-4, RBI
3B Tilson Brito 1-4, RBI
1B KC Kao 0-4
C Chih-Kang Kao 2-3

Elephants lineup:
LF CYC 2-4
CF Cheng-Wei Huang 1-4, RBI
RF Kuan-Jen Chen 1-5, RBI
1B Chia Chia 2-4
DH Carlos Rivera 2-5, HR #3, 2 RBI's
C Yi-Feng Kuo 2-2, 2B


MILB:
R - The GCL Red Sox lost 4-2. CH Huang hit his first HR of the year (and pro career) and was 2-4 with a double and a RBI. CC Chen was 0-2. Box

AAA - Vegas won 4-3. CL Hu was 1-4 with a BB. Box



MLB:
HC Kuo threw 1.2 more scoreless innings despite his team's 2-1 loss to the D-Backs. Box
*Updated