Chao-Hang Cheng

Chao-Hang Cheng (鄭兆行) formerly known as Chao-Yueh Cheng

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 181 lb.

• School Chinese Cultural University
• High School Hua Hsing High School

• Born February 14, 1977 in Guangfu, Hualien Taiwan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Chao-Hang Cheng has been a member of Taiwan's national team on occasion for a decade and has been a productive infielder for the Sinon Bulls. He wears number 88.

Cheng was on the Silver Medal-winning Chinese Taipei team in the 1995 World Junior Championship. In the 1998 Baseball World Cup, he was 0 for 6 as the backup second baseman behind Sheng-Hsien Feng. He went 1 for 10 with a walk and two errors in the 1999 World Port Tournament. He was 1 for 4 with a double and a walk as a bench player in the 1999 Intercontinental Cup.

Cheng made his pro debut in 2000 with the Sinon Bulls and hit .244/.302/.331 as a rookie. He batted .247/.309/.350 in his second season with Sinon. In 2002, he improved to a batting line of .313/.380/.433. He was 5th in the circuit in batting average. He was named to the CPBL's Best Ten as the shortstop. He returned to the national team for the 2002 Intercontinental Cup and hit .219/.342/.375 with six walks and six runs in eight games as the starting shortstop; defense was a negative as he made four errors and fielded .862. He led Taiwan in walks but was nine behind Cuba's Frederich Cepeda.

In 2003, Cheng hit .283/.341/.434 with 12 home runs (a career high through 2007) and 16 steals in 22 tries for the Bulls. He again made the Best Ten at short. He was with Taiwan for the 2003 Asian Championship. The Sinon infielder batted .279/.323/.406 in 2004 and swiped 31 bases while only being caught six times. He led the league in steals. Cheng struggled mightily in the 2004 Olympics, going 2 for 20 with one walk at the plate, one steal in two tries on the bases and five errors in six games and a .828 fielding percentage as the starting Taiwan shortstop. As he never fielded under .945 in his first 8 CPBL seasons, the defensive woes were just as uncharacteristic as the poor performance in other areas.

Cheng produced at a .250/.310/.378 clip for Sinon in 2005 as they won the CPBL pennant and played in the first Konami Cup. In 2006, the 29-year-old only played 34 games, hitting .240/.284/.293. He bounced back the next year and batted .301/.360/.432. He returned to the national team for the first time in 3 years but was one of their worst performers in the 2007 Baseball World Cup, hitting .150/.146/.175. He did field 46 chances flawlessly at second base and shortstop. He was left off Taiwan's roster for the two Olympic qualifiers the team played in during 2007 and 2008. The Hualien native hit .294/.334/.379 and stole 11 bases in 2009, and took back his first CPBL Gold Glove award. He doubled as defense coach in 2010, and reached .300 batting average again. He also won his third, and the last Best Ten award. Cheng batted career-worst .241/.291/.288 with no homers in 2011, but came back soon next year. He recorded a .267/.305/.333 batting line, and was selected into the All-Star Game again. He collected his 1,000th career hits off Brad Thomas on July 29. When the Bulls turned into EDA Rhinos in 2013, Cheng had a caree-high .313 batting average, and got into the Al-Star Game the 10th times in his career. The veteran infielder didn't play many games in 2014 and 2015, and decided to retire after 2015 season. Cheng then served as defense coach from 2015 to 2022 for the Rhinos and the Fubon Guardians. The Rakuten Monkeys signed Cheng in 2023 season, and he became their defence coach in the minor league of CPBL.

Overall, Cheng batted .279/.330/.370 in 16 seasons in the CPBL, collecting 1,212 hits and 110 stolen bases

Sources

• Taiwan Baseball Wiki
• CPBL player page
• 1999 World Port Tournament stats
• Chinese wikipedia
• IBAF site

Related Sites

• Personal website