Chien-Yu Kuo

From BR Bullpen

Chien-Yu Kuo (郭健瑜) (Swordfish)

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 5' 9", Weight 165 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Chien-Yu Kuo plays in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

Kuo was a batboy for the Wei Chuan Dragons when he was young, handling the bats of future teammates and opponents like Tai-Shan Chang and Chun-Chang Yeh. He played for Taiwan in the 2004 World University Championship. An outfielder primarily at that point in his career, he strained his ankle as a junior and it took five months to heal. During that time, he pitched to stay active, figuring it would be short-term. Kuo hit .207/.303/.310 for Taiwan in the 2007 World Port Tournament.

The Uni-President Lions picked Kuo in the second round of the 2007 CPBL Draft. He was found to have an inflamed right elbow shortly after being picked and got his chance to try his hand at hitting as his arm rested. He hit .315 and stole 11 bases in 32 contests for the Lions' farm team in 2008. The club released him following the season; Kuo was so upset, he did not even tell his parents. Kuo decided to try out for the Sinon Bulls, but manager Sheng-Ming Hsu decided he should pitch, giving him three days to think it over. Kuo decided to pitch due to the quantity of top outfielders in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, which only had four teams at that point in time.

Kuo impressed enough as a pitcher to make the Bulls in 2009. He was 1-0 with a 5.27 ERA after 12 games. The Bulls then traded him with Chien-Hsun Wang and 10,000 NTD to the Brother Elephants for Ke-Wei Fang. Kuo struggled in 2011 as his ERA was 6.02 in 27 appearances, then the Brothers turned him into an outfielder again. Kuo hit .226/.256/.340 in 2012. He improved to .288/.331/.323 in 2013, but he soon slumped to .221/.265/.253 in 2014. Since the Brothers had star outfielders Szu-Chi Chou, Cheng-Wei Chang and Chih-Hao Chang, Kuo didn't have many chances. He only played 26 games with a .359/.390/.436 batting line in 2015, then he was 0-for-2 in the 2015 Taiwan Series. Kuo announced his retirement after he stayed in the minors for the entire 2016 season, and he became a college coach. He coached Nanhua University from 2017 to 2019, then became an assistant coach of the Meiho University in 2020.

Overall, Kuo hit .268/.307/.324 with 177 hits and 19 doubles in 4 seasons in the CPBL. He was 2-4 with a 5.46 ERA, struck out 56 and pitched 90 2/3 innings as a pitcher.

Kuo threw a slider, forkball and fastball (peak speed of 92 mph).

Sources[edit]

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