Chin-Feng Chen

Chin-Feng Chen
Outfielder
Born: (1977-10-28) October 28, 1977
Tainan City, Taiwan
Batted: Right Threw: Right
Professional debut
MLB: September 14, 2002, for the Los Angeles Dodgers
CPBL: March 21, 2006, for the La New Bears
Last appearance
MLB: July 20, 2005, for the Los Angeles Dodgers
CPBL: September 18, 2016, for the Lamigo Monkeys
CPBL statistics
CPBL Games 752
Batting average .304
Hits 738
Home runs 132
Runs batted in 490
Stolen bases 69
MLB statistics
Batting average .091
Hits 2
Home runs 0
Runs batted in 2
Stolen bases 0
Teams
Chin-Feng Chen
Medal record
Representing  Chinese Taipei
Men’s Baseball
Baseball World Cup
2001 Taipei Team
Asian Games
2006 Doha Team
Asian Baseball Championship
1999 Seoul Team
2003 Sapporo Team
2007 Taichung Team
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chen.

Chin-Feng Chen (Chinese: 陳金鋒; pinyin: Chén Jīnfēng; Wade–Giles: Ch'en2 Chin1-Feng1; born October 28, 1977) is a baseball outfielder who was the first Taiwan-born player playing in Major League Baseball in 2002. Chen is a Taiwanese aborigine of Siraya tribal ancestry.[1]

Baseball career

In 1999 in the Cal League with Class-A San Bernardino in 1999, he batted .316/.404/.580 with 31 homers, 31 steals, 123 RBIs and 75 walks.[2] Along with outfielder Joc Pederson who did it in AAA in 2014, he is one of only two LA Dodger minor leaguers to have a 30 home run, 30 stolen bases season.[2][3]

Chen became the first Taiwanese baseball player to play in Major League baseball when he made his debut on September 14, 2002. He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers in parts of the 2002-05 seasons, but only sparingly. In 2005, Chen was reluctant to accept a designation for assignment back to Dodgers' Las Vegas 51s AAA team, and try out with another major league team. In 2006, after struggling to make the 25-man roster with the Dodgers, Chen tried out for the Japanese professional league (NPB), and eventually decided to play in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan.

In 2005, Chen was the first Taiwanese position player to ever get a hit in Major League Baseball. However, Chin-hui Tsao had earlier become the first Taiwanese player to get a hit in the Majors as a pitcher, 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 2006 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 batting average and 81 RBIs for the whole season. He also led the Bears 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 attention from several Japanese and Korean teams, including the Orix Buffaloes. But, Chen did not sign with them and remained in Taiwan. Chen announced his retirement from the Chinese Professional Baseball League on September 18, 2016.[4]

Since Chen's debut, other Taiwanese baseball players have played in the MLB: Chien-Ming Wang with the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals and Toronto Blue Jays, Fu-Te Ni with the Detroit Tigers, Wei-Yin Chen of the Baltimore Orioles, and former Dodgers Hong-Chih Kuo and Chin-Lung Hu.

Achievements

Chen hit the first grand slam in Konami Cup history during the 2006 series.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Singer works to insert indigenous songs into mainstream". Taiwan Culture Portal. Ministry of Culture, Republic of China. April 23, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Joc Pederson already in rare company in Dodgers minor league history". True Blue LA. December 18, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Joc Pederson joins Pacific Coast League 30/30 club for Albuquerque Isotopes | MiLB.com News | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". milb.com. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  4. ↑ Lin, Hung-han; Lu, Hsin-hui; Liu, Kay (18 September 2016). "Chen Chin-feng, first Taiwanese playing in MLB, retires". Central News Agency. Retrieved 18 September 2016.

External links

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