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.

Amateur News:
The Minnesota Twins have entered the Che-Hsuan Lin sweepstakes as a serious player for the kid's services alongside the Red Sox, Mariners, and Cubs. The Twins who already have 18 year old OF Wang-Wei Lin (First up at the plate in the vid below) in their system, sent their international scouting director, their scout in Asia, and their Taiwanese scout to see C.H. Lin.
The Twins are also rumored to have signed Chen-Hua Lin, a 6'1" sidearm throwing RHP. The teenager has been clocked as high as 89 mph.



US Minors:
AA - Jacksonville won 4-1. Hu got back on track as he was 3-5 to raise his BA to .380 . He also had his 6th SB of the season. Box

A - Greenville lost 6-1, but Chiang was 2-4 with 2 doubles. Box

A - Wisconsin won 6-4. K.H. Lo was 2-4 with a walk and a run scored. Box

NPB:
The Fighters lost to the Hawks 4-2. C.S. Yang was 0-3 hitting out of the 9 hole. Box*Updated* Wei-Chu Lin was 4-5 with a HR, a double, and 2 RBI's. Despite his sterling performance at the plate, the Tigers lost 6-5 to the Giants. Box

CPBL:
Cobras 7 - Whales 3: Cobras 2B Shih-Yang Deng was Game MVP as he cracked his 3rd HR of the season and was 2-4 with 3 RBI's. Whales RF/3B Chun-Chiang Kao was 3-4 with 2 RBI's and hit the game's other HR, his 2nd of the season.
Elephants 3 - Bears 0: The Elephants won behind the strength of starting pitcher Yu-Cheng Liao's gem of a game. Liao shut down the vaunted Bears offense with 7 shutout innings and allowed only 3 hits. He also had 5 K's and 2 walks. Liao picked up his first win of the season and for his efforts, earned Game MVP honors. Slugger C.M Peng hit his league-leading 12th HR of the season as he was 1-2 with a RBI and 2 walks. Opposing slugger CFC was 1-3 with a walk.

Sheng-An Kuo was the first signing of 2007. Who's next? Well, the top two prospects are both in HS, although one is playing in Japan.

1)The top signable HS prospect gathering significant attention in Taiwan is Nan-Ying Vocational HS (This Tainan HS baseball powerhouse has produced current Dodgers: Hong-Chih Kuo and Ching-Lung Hu) OF Che-Hsuan Lin. Rumor has it that multiple MLB teams, including the Cubs, Reds, Red Sox, Phillies, Blue Jays, and Twins have interest in Lin. Arguably the top positional player on the island in his graduating HS class, the kid is blessed with a lot of plus tools. The 18 year old's (DOB: 9/21/88) best attribute is his outstanding speed. He has run a 10.9 in the 100m dash. Not only is he athletic, but he has a plus arm, hits for average, has above average power, and is plus-plus defensively. The 6'0 - 185 pounder bats and throws righty.

Lin competed for the Taiwanese junior NT in 2006 - a team that finished 5th at the 22nd AAA World Junior Baseball Championships. During the competition, Lin appeared in 8 games, starting all games in CF. In 34 AB's, he hit .353, slugged .471, cracked a double, a HR, scored 7 runs, had 2 RBI's and 2 SB's. He also played flawless defense with no errors in the field.

Lin burst onto the world stage in 2000 when he hit a grand slam (one of only 9 in Bronco Series history) in the Bronco League World Series (for kids 11-12 years old). He alongside fellow junior NT and HS teammate Kai-Wen Cheng, led their Tainan team to the 2000 Pony League (Bronco Division) World Series Championship.

In a year with a weak crop of graduating HS pitchers, Lin is expected to be the second member of the 2006 junior NT to join a MLB organization (the first being OF Wang-Wei Lin of the Minnesota Twins). Due to current CTBA rules, don't expect Lin's signing to become official until after he graduates HS.

Here is a video link (courtesy of Heavenly Star) of Nan-Ying in action. Lin is #8 in the white uniform and is the leadoff hitter in the video.


C.H. Lin's HS teammate and fellow 2006 junior NT member Yen-Wen Kuo (SS) is another prospect who has garnered some attention. However as you can see from this video, Kuo def. needs to fill out his frame with a good weight training program. The 18 year old (DOB: 10/25/1988) stands 5'11" and weighs 168 pounds.

+'s for Kuo: soft hands, good range in the field, accurate arm, good bat control, plus runner
-'s for Kuo: lacks power, weak arm

2)The other top prospect is LHP Heng-Hsiao Kuo, who is currently playing HS baseball in Japan. Kuo who stands 5'11" has a max fastball of 92 mph. H.H. Kuo is following in the footsteps of Chung-Shou Yang by playing at his alma mater - Fukuoka Daiichi HS. Kuo is joined by 2 other Taiwanese kids currently playing in Fukuoka, Japan. Kuo is good enough to be considered a possible first round pick in next year's NPB HS draft.

*Updated*

With the success of Chien-Ming Wang, it seems as if more MLB teams are interested in getting a foothold in the Taiwanese market. The White Sox signed 20 year old pitching prospect Po-Yu Lin with a sign-on bonus of ~ $300,000. The righty stands 6 feet tall and weighs 216 pounds. Lin was a member of the 2004 junior NT that included fellow minor leaguers Chih-Hsien Chiang and Wang-Wei Lin. At the time, Lin was considered the ace of the staff. Lin's stats for the 2004 Junior World Championships can be found here. Lin gained additional exposure when he played this past summer for the Anchorage Bucs in the ABL. Lin appeared in 6 games for the Bucs and had a 3.03 ERA. Lin played alongside fellow Taiwanese prospect and current NT member - Cheng-Lung Lo.
In high school, Lin was clocked around 90 mph. See video footage here of Lin.

*First and foremost, per my buddy and the news out of Taiwan, the Minnesota Twins have entered into the Taiwanese market by signing 18 year old outfielder Wang-Wei Lin. Lin, whose twin brother is none other than Red Sox pitching prospect Wang-Yi Lin, was considered one of the top hitting prospects on the 2006 junior NT that competed recently in Cuba. Lin, who struggled a bit in Cuba, flashed some of his potential by cracking one of only 2 HR's for the Taiwanese team - not bad considering the kids used wooden bats. Lin is rumored to have received a signing bonus in the ballpark of around $90-100K.



*Next, the SoftBank Hawks and 18 year old Ping-Yen Lee have come to an agreement (sign-on bonus of around $335,000) and his signing was officially announced today. Lee will join fellow Taiwanese prospect, pitcher Yao-Hsun Yang on the nigun team. Despite standing only 5'9", Lee cranked out 53 HR's and hit above .500 over his 3 year HS career. Lee also has decent speed as he was clocked at 6.3 seconds over 50 meters.


*The final 24 man roster for the Intercontinental Cup coming up in November has been released:
Pitchers(10)
1)Chien-Fu Yang - CPBL
2)Wei-Lun Pan - CPBL
3)En-Yu Lin- CPBL
4)Yueh-Ping Lin - CPBL
5)Si-Yo Wu - CPBL
6)Po-Hsuan Keng - Blue Jays
7)Sung-Wei Tseng - Indians
8)Yao-Hsun Yang - Hawks
9)Chen-Chang Lee - Amateur
10)Ko-Chien Lin - Amateur
Catchers(3)
1)Chun-Chang Yeh - CPBL
2)Chih-Kang Kao - CPBL
3)Feng-Min Chen - CPBL
Infielders(6)
1)Chuan-Chia Wang - CPBL
2)Tai-Shan Chang - CPBL
3)Chih-Wei Shih - CPBL
4)Chih-Sheng Lin - CPBL
5)Yung-Chi Chen - Mariners
6)Chung-Shou Yang - Fighters
Outfielders(5)
1)Chin-Feng Chen - CPBL
2)Chia-Hsien Hsieh - CPBL
3)Chien-Ming Chang - CPBL
4)Yu-Hsien Ming - CPBL
5)Chih-Yao Chan - Amateur



*The finals for the CPBL is set: The LA New Bears will take on the President Lions in a 7 game series beginning October 21st. Should be interesting as some of the top domestic talent will be competing against one another - C.F. Chen, S.Y. Wu, W.L. Pan, and Y.P. Lin. Also the Chen brothers will be fighting for family bragging rights.

Amateur
The Taiwanese junior NT finds itself atop Group B with 3 wins and 0 losses. Taiwan blanked Spain 9-0 on Wednesday. Three Taiwanese pitchers combined on a 6 hit shutout, with the starter Chun-Lin Chen picking up the win. Chen lasted 5 innings, gave up 2 hits, to go along with 6 K's and 2 walks. Four hitters led the way for Taiwan's offense with 2 hits each. SS Yen-Wen Kuo was 2-4 with a double and a run scored. RF Wang-Wei Lin was 2-4 with 2 runs scored, a double, and a RBI. 1B Hung-Cheng Lai was 2-2 with 2 runs scored, a double and 2 RBI's. Finally Chung-Chieh Wang was 2-3 with a double and led the way with 3 RBI's.

In other Group B action, Italy shocked Mexico by winning 8-6. The US also beat previously unbeaten Canada 2-1. With today's action complete, here are the current Group B rankings:
1)Taiwan 3-0
2)Canada 2-1
3)Italy 2-1
4)Mexico 1-2
5)USA 1-2
6)Spain 0-3
Taiwan will face Canada tomorrow in an important showdown for Group B supremacy.

Minors
Chi-Hung Cheng was recognized by the Blue Jays organization as the 2006 MVP of the Lansing Lugnuts. Read more here.

Majors
The Sporting News take on Chien-Ming Wang. Wang goes for win #18 on Friday.

Here are the 18 young men selected to represent Taiwan in September at the 22nd "AAA" Junior World Baseball Championships in Cuba.

Pitchers:
1)Yu-Hsun Chen
2)Kai-Wen Cheng - on the 2004 and 2005 junior NT
3)Chih-Lung Huang
4)Chun-Lin Chen - on the 2005 junior NT/voted top RHP at 2005 Asian Junior Championships
5)Chen-Yu Hong
6)Chun-Hsiu Chen
7)Hung-Cheng Lai - on 2005 junior NT

Catchers:
1)Chia-Chu Chen
2)Chun-Chieh Wang

Infielders:
1)Chien-Ming Su
2)Shih-Wei Chen
3)Yan-Wen Kuo
4)Wei-Chih Chen
5)Po-Ting Hsiao - on the 2005 youth NT

Outfielders:
1)Yu-Hsin Chu
2)Shu-Huan Wang
3)Che-Hsuan Lin
4)Wang-Wei Lin - on the 2004 and 2005 junior NT