Chia-Hsien Hsieh

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Chia-Hsien Hsieh (謝佳賢) (The Ugly, The Taiwan Plumber)

  • Bats Left, Throws Left
  • Height 5' 9", Weight 192 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Chia-Hsien Hsieh played in the CPBL and the TML for 12 years and has played in numerous international events, including the Olympics.

TML[edit]

Hsieh debuted in 1998 with the Taichung Agan, winning Taiwan Major League Rookie of the Year honors and making the Best Ten in the outfield. He became the first player in the TML with double digits in both homers (12) and steals (13); he also hit .337/.465/.570. In 1999, Hsieh batted .291/.405/.521 with 15 homers. He represented Taiwan in the 1999 Asian Championship. In 2000, he led the TML with 15 home runs while hitting at a .349/.497/.704 clip. In 2001, he led the TML in homers (14) and runs (48). He was again named to the Best Nine in the outfield. His batting line that year was .246/.347/.523. The 26-year-old had an even bigger year in 2002, batting .321/.408/.608 and pacing the circuit in home runs (19) and RBI (64). He almost won a Triple Crown, finishing second in average, .011 behind leader Roberto Mejia. He was named to the Best Nine at First Base and was named MVP of the finals. He played for Taiwan in the 2002 Asian Games.

In 314 games in the TML, Hsieh had hit 75 homers, driven in 291 runs and stolen 37 bases while hitting .307. He would go down in history as the all-time TML leader in homers, runs, RBI and walks.

CPBL[edit]

Hsieh moved to the Macoto Gida in 2003 and batted .267/.381/.489 with 18 home runs. He made the Best Ten at first base. He also played in the 2003 Asian Championship. In 2004, Hsieh hit .285/.390/.519 and clubbed 17 long balls. He finished 8th in the league in average and was only four homers behind leader Tai-Shan Chang. He was named to the Best Ten at first base and won a CPBL Gold Glove as well. He became the fastest player in Taiwanese pro baseball history to sock 100 homers, reaching that mark in his 454th game.

In the 2004 Olympics, The Taiwan Plumber hit .278/.350/.333 as Taiwan's main first baseman and whiffed in 7 of 18 at-bats. He had just one run and no RBI in 7 games. Hsieh won his 4th home run crown in 2005, when he crushed 23. He drove in 74 in 101 games to also pace the CPBL in that category. His batting line was .284/.423/.560. He made the Best Ten at first base. On August 23, he hit the 5,000th home run in CPBL history. He hit .400/.471/.400 in the 2005 Taiwan Series, but the Cobras were swept by the Bulls.

The player unfortunately dubbed "The Ugly" had a busy 2006. He was 3 for 7 with a walk, run and RBI in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, leading Taiwan's entry in batting average. In the regular season, he hit .257/.347/.465 with 19 homers. He hit his 100th career CPBL home run in his 516th game in that circuit, setting a record for the fastest player to that level. He played in the 2006 Asian Games. He then wound up his busy year in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, batting .233/.395/.467 with 7 walks in 9 games.

Hsieh continued to shine in the 2007, hitting .352/.421/.602 with 32 doubles, 19 homers, 75 runs and 79 RBI in 95 games. He finished 4th in both average and RBI and tied Tai-Shan Chang for 5th in homers. He played in the 2007 Asian Championship, going 2 for 13 with a walk. In the 2007 Baseball World Cup, he batted .343/.432/.657 with 3 home runs, 7 walks and 10 RBI in 10 games for the hosts. He had 4 RBI in the club's loss to Team USA, the eventual tournament champions. Hsieh tied Justin Ruggiano, Yulieski Gourriel, Mike Saunders and Andy LaRoche for the tourney lead in homers. He also tied LaRoche and Yasuyuki Saigo for third in RBI, trailing only Baltazar López and Yoandry Urgellés. He failed to make the All-Tournament team as Saigo was picked at first base.

In the 2008 season, Hsieh fell to .288/.374/.508 with 17 home runs and only 7 doubles, a drop-off of 25. He was still second in the CPBL in homers, trailing Tilson Brito by seven. When dMedia folded following a gambling scandal, Hsieh was the first pick in the redistribution draft, taken by the Sinon Bulls. Hsieh hit .281/.411/.468 with 14 homers in 2009. However, he was involved in a game-fixing scandal after the season, and the league banned him for life.

Overall, Hsieh hit .294/.409/.537 with 1,025 hits, 219 doubles and 202 homers in 12 seasons in the CPBL and TML.

Sources[edit]

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