Chun-Yu Kuo

Chun-Yu Kuo (郭俊佑) (Kuro)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 194 lb.

• High School Taichung Agricultural Senior High School

• Born April 20, 1984 in Taipei City Taiwan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Chun-Yu Kuo played in the CPBL for 8 years.

Kuo played for Taiwan in the 2002 World Junior Championship, hitting .323/.382/.419 with 10 runs in 8 games. In the 2004 Haarlem Baseball Week, he was 3 for 18 with 9 strikeouts. During the 2005 Baseball World Cup, he was Taiwan's top performer, hitting .370/.425/.815 with 7 runs, 9 RBI and four home runs in 8 games. His lone problem was his .875 fielding percentage in center field. He tied Mike Cervenak, Keiji Ikebe, Edgar Velazquez and Tsutomu Takanezawa for third in the event in home runs, trailing Yulieski Gourriel and Joey Votto. He twice went deep against Spain, hit a 3-run homer against Puerto Rico and went 4 for 5 against Australia. He was left off the All-Tournament outfield as Danny Rombley, Freddy Herrera and Tiago Magalhães were picked. Kuo played in the 2005 Asian Championship, 2006 World University Championship and 2006 Haarlem Baseball Week (3 for 15, 2B, BB).

The Uni-President Lions drafted him in the first round of the 2006 CPBL Draft. He made his pro debut in the 2008 CPBL, hitting .233/.314/.349 in 14 games and making 3 errors in 13 outfield games (with a .893 fielding percentage). He had one key hit and one key mistake in the 2008 Asia Series, in which the Lions finished second. Against the Tianjin Lions, he helped Taiwan tie the game at 4 with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, singling off Jiangang Lu to score Fu-Hao Liu. Against the Seibu Lions, he failed to snag a double by Shogo Akada that scored the winning run in a 2-1 Seibu victory.

Kuo slumped to .184/.280/.287 in 2009, and he had a .227/.313/.330 batting line in 2010. On September 6, he became the first Lions player to be struck out 5 times in a game. He improved to .266/.356/.424 with 5 homers in 2011, and he was 2-for-10 with 2 RBI in the 2011 Taiwan Series. The Lions beat the Lamigo Monkeys in 5 games. Kuo hit .259/.361/.473 with a career-high 11 homers in 2012, and he ranked 8th in homers (13 behind Chih-Sheng Lin). He was 0-for-6 in the 2012 Taiwan Series, and the Lions lost to the Monkeys in 5 games.

The Taipei native was selected into the 2013 CPBL All-Star Game, and he was 0-for-2. He crushed 3 homers in a game on June 29, and he recorded a .257/.322/.424 batting line in 2013. He was 2-for-2 with a RBI to help the Lions swept the EDA Rhinos in the 2013 Taiwan Series. Kuo slumped to .227/.311/.295 in 2015, and he announced his retirement after hitting .248/.309/.307 in 2016. He then became a fielding coach for the Lions.

Overall, Kuo hit .243/.327/.379 with 274 hits, 46 doubles and 33 homers in 8 seasons in the CPBL.

Sources

• Defunct IBAF site
• Harry Wedemeijer's international tourney stats
• CPBL player page
• Various news reports on the 2008 Asia Series
• Wiki Baseball (in Chinese)