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.

Thursday News...

MLB:
As mentioned by a few of you, CMW's back is fine and he will pitch this Sunday against Zack Greinke and the KC Royals.



US MINORS:
A ss - Lowell lost 3-2 in extra innings. CH Lin was 1-4 with a double. Box

CPBL:
Bears 3 - Lions 1: Bears SP Yu-Wei Hsu picked up win #9 and game MVP honors after a dominant performance on Thursday. Hsu threw 7 innings, allowing 1 unearned run on 4 hits - he had 4 K's and no walks. For the Lions, Tilson Brito was 0-4 while KC Kao was 1-4. CFC was 0-4 for the Bears while teammate Chih-Tsung Chiang was 3-4 with a RBI.


Amateur:
Here's a video (in Chinese) follow up on HS pitcher Yu-Hsun Chen.
Chen had TJ surgery in May and is currently rehabbing his elbow. He would have been eligible to participate in this year's Asian Junior Championships.

Raising a Red Flag....

Amateur pitching prospect Yu-Hsun Chen tore the MCL (ulnar collateral ligament) in his throwing elbow recently. Although not a top-flight prospect, Chen was good enough to be on the 2006 junior national team that played in Cuba and performed well in the 2006 Sadaharu Oh Cup. In Cuba, Chen made an appearance in 3 games, throwing 5.1 shutout innings to go along with 7 K's and 1 walk. Chen was also credited with the win versus the Italian junior NT. The 17 year old was a candidate to represent the junior NT again in this year's Asian Junior Baseball Championships.

The story on Chen is that despite being diagnosed with the MCL tear, he was told by his coach to take pain-killers and continue to pitch. Hearing that made me cringe, as Chen most likely will need to have Tommy John surgery to repair his damaged elbow. Although some MCL tears can be caused by a traumatic event (poor mechanics - insufficient warm-up phase), the tear can also occur gradually from repetitive stress (overuse) of the ligament. Hearing about some of the throwing sessions that these HS kids go through, makes me think that Chen's injury was a result of the latter mechanism of injury. This brings into question the training methods the kids in Taiwan undergo. In addition, it isn't uncommon for coaches to succumb to the pressures of winning and thus overutilize their star pitchers. Without a doubt, the health and future prospects of a kid should always be priority #1. Unfortunately, we see the opposite phenomenon occur and it is no wonder why so many of our star pitchers have suffered significant arm injuries in their young career.