En-Yu Lin

En-Yu Lin (林恩宇)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 202 lb.

• School National College of Physical Education and Sports
• High School Ku-Pao Home Economics & Commercial High School

• Born March 25, 1981 in Tainan City Taiwan

BR register page

Biographical Information

En-Yu Lin was a pitcher in the [NPB]] and the CPBL. He pitched for two seasons for the Macoto Cobras, winning the Most Valuable Player Award in both years. He was also a member of the Chinese Taipei national baseball team at the Baseball World Cup in 2003 and 2007, 2004 Olympics and 2006 World Baseball Classic.

2003–2004

Lin was originally not a pitcher but a third baseman, and played in a 2000 international tournament at the position. However, while at the National College of Physical Education and Sports in 2001, Lin's teammate and star pitcher Chih-Yuan Tai died in an automobile accident, leading Lin to be pressed into service as a pitcher. He would achieve great success as an amateur pitcher making the senior national team in 2003. He played at the 2003 World Port Tournament (0-1, 4.22), Baseball World Cup (saving one game in four appearances but having a 6.43 ERA) and Asian Baseball Championship. In 2004 he played at the Olympics in Athens, Greece. In the 2004 Olympics, he allowed one run in three innings, striking out four and getting no decisions. He also played at the 2003 World Port Tournament and 2004 Haarlem Honkbalweek (walking 2 in 2 2/3 IP but allowing only one hit and no runs). The Macoto Cobras drafted him in the first round of the 2005 CPBL Draft..

2005–2006

Lin made his professional debut on April 21. He had a 12-8 win-loss record for the Cobras in 31 appearances. In 167⅔ innings pitched he had 152 strike-outs and just 35 walks, with 32 earned runs allowed for a 1.72 ERA–best in the league. He completed nine games, threw four shutouts, and had two zero base-on-balls games. He faced 643 batters, gave up 118 hits, 8 home runs and had a 0.92 WHIP. In his first year in the league, Lin was named as both the league's Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player. He also made the league's Best Ten team. He was named the Most Valuable Player in May.

In early 2006, Lin was the first pitcher in the inaugural World Baseball Classic on March 3, 2006 at the Tokyo Dome against Korea's Byung-kyu Lee. The ball is now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. In the fourth inning, he walked Seung-yeop Lee who would score on a line drive down the third-base line by Jin-young Lee that bounced off the glove of third baseman Yung-Chi Chen. After the hit Lin was forced to be relieved as he hit the tournament's first-round 65-pitch limit. Lin's only appearance in the tournament lasted just three and two-thirds innings, and resulted in a loss. He struck out four, gave up three hits, and walked only one; that one walk was costly as it allowed Lee to reach base and eventually score.

After the tournament, Lin returned to Macoto and had one of the best seasons in the league's history. He won 17 games – tied with Si-Yo Wu for best in the league – with 8 losses in another 31 appearances. He pitched in 202⅔ innings and held a 1.73 ERA, to lead the league. He struck out 209 batters, breaking the two-year old record of Ying-chieh Lin, and won the pitching Triple Crown. He also gave up 140 hits, with 6 home runs, and 43 walks for a 0.90 WHIP against 791 batters. He completed five games, threw three shutouts, and had one zero base-on-balls game. Lin was once again named the league's Most Valuable Player and again made the Best Ten team. He was named the league's Most Valuable Player in the month of July. On March 24, he threw a one-hitter with no walks against the Sinon Bulls. He played at the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, going 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA.

2007

On December 7, 2006 Lin joined the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Pacific League. He signed a two-year, 5,000-man yen deal (2,000-man in 2007 and 3,000-man in 2008). The team had signed Ying-Chieh Lin a year earlier. Lin made the Eagles opening day roster, but was sent to ni-gun on March 28 with a blister on his right index finger. He was called up on April 13 to start the team's sixteenth game of the season. At the Sapporo Dome, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters' 13-year veteran Satoru Kanemura. The first batter he faced was Hichori Morimoto, who hit a ball at shortstop Daisuke Kusano. However, Kusano bobbled it and Morimoto made it to first. A sacrifice bunt and fly out made it seem as though the error would not cause any problems for Lin. He then walked Fernando Seguignol and hit Atsunori Inaba to load the bases; but got Naoto Inada to ground out to end the inning. Lin would settle down and pitch five more innings, strikeout three, walk four and give up just two hits in 24 batters faced. He would leave the game after just 81 pitches, but got the win.

A week later, on April 20, Lin made his second start–in Miyagi–against the Chiba Lotte Marines. Through the seventh he had given up five hits, one walk, but had five strikeouts. Still he was down 1–0 until Takeshi Yamasaki hit a home run to tie the game in the seventh. In the Fighter's eighth, Hisao Heiuchi reached base on a Kusano error. A bunt single by Tsuyoshi Nishioka put two runners on for Daisuke Hayakawa, who struck-out, but then Takeshi Aono hit a three-run home run to break the game open. Lin would get out off the inning with just the three runs, but that was enough to hand him his first loss. He had pitched to 33 batters, in eight innings, giving up eight hits, with the Aono home run, walked one, and struck out six in 111 pitches.

On April 26, Lin started against the Orix Buffaloes. He pitched but 5⅔ good innings; surrendering five hits, walking two, and striking out two in 22 batters faced. However he was pulled in the bottom of the sixth after giving up a two-run home run to Greg LaRocca, to make the score close the score to 3–2.

On May 3, Lin started at Fukuoka Dome against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks–he would last just two innings and 37 pitches. He gave up five hits, one walk, and struck-out one batter in eleven batters faced, but surrendered three runs. Lin would be tagged with the loss, as the game would be an 11–4 rout. On May 11, he pitched against the Buffaloes and once again last two innings. He gave up a lead-off home run to Masaki Ohnishi. Even though he surrendered two singles and a walk in the inning, he escaped the inning with just a single run given up. Lin pitched the second inning, walking one and allowing a hit, but was pulled before the third inning for Hiroki Yamamura after reaching 66 pitches in twelve batters faced. He gave up a run on four hits, and two walks with two strikeouts. It would be his last ichi-gun game for over four months as he was dropped for readjustment.

In the Eastern League, Lin would make nine appearances and have a 2–2 record with a 2.84 ERA. He faced 154 batters in 38 innings pitched, giving up 33 hits with one home run. He had 13 walks, 1 hit batsman, and 26 strikeouts. On September 18, Lin was activated as a reliever. In Sapporo against the Fighters, he came in the bottom of the eighth in a 2–0 game. He needed just 14 pitches to get through the inning; he struck out Atsunori Inaba and Yuji Iiyama and inducing a ground out to Naoto Watanabe by Eiichi Koyano.

Lin made his sixth start of the year on September 23 against the Seibu Lions. In the first three innings he struck out seven of nine batters. In the fourth inning, the first Lions batter, G.G. Satoh, reached base on a walk. In the fifth, he gave up a lead-off hit to Kazuhiro Wada, followed by a Jeff Liefer walk. A two-out triple by Ginjiro Sumitani scored both runs, to make the score 2–1. In the sixth, Alex Cabrera hit a home run to left field to make the score 3–1. Lin was relieved by Satoshi Nagai, and was saved from the loss by a four Eagles runs in the seventh and eighth. In the six-innings, he pitched he faced 24 batters and 103 pitches. He struck-out eight, gave up three hits, walked three, and surrendered three runs.

Lin started the Eagles second-to-last game of the season against the Marines. He gave up two runs in the first on a lead-off double, walk, outfield single, and double-play. In the fourth inning, another run was scored on single, stolen base, and sacrifice fly. He would be taken out of the game after the inning. In 18 batters faced, he gave up three runs on four hits, three walks, and struck-out three and got the loss.

In his first year in the NPB, Lin appeared in 8 games–7 starts–with a 1-3 record and a 3.63 ERA. He pitched in 34⅔ innings, and faced 147 batters, surrendering 31 hits for a .226 opponent's batting average and 4 home runs. He walked 15 batters, hit one, and struck out 28. Lin had a reverse split; left-handed batters hit just .193 off him (11-for-57), while right-handed batters hit .286 (20-70) with all of his 4 home runs.

Lin returned to the Taiwan national team for the 2007 Baseball World Cup and was 1-0 with a 0.56 ERA. In 16 innings, he struck out 21, second to Japan's Tadashi Settsu, and allowed 7 hits. He struck out 13 in a complete game shutout win over the Italian national team; the final score was 1-0 and Lin dueled former major leaguer Tony Fiore evenly for 7 innings. In the quarterfinals against the Dutch national team, Lin allowed 2 hits, 2 walks and one run in six innings while whiffing seven but was yanked in favor of Ming-Chieh Hsu and the Netherlands rallied to win. Lin started against South Korea in the 2007 Asian Championship and took the loss, striking out 10 in five innings but allowing a 3-run homer that cost Taiwan the game. Lin led the Asian Championship in strikeouts that year.

Lin missed the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament due to injury but Taiwan still won a spot in the 2008 Olympics. He spent the next two seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues, and Lin had a 9.00 ERA in 8 games in 2008. After recording a 5.91 ERA in 6 games in 2009, the Golden Eagles released him, and Lin announced that he would join the CPBL again.

2010-2014

Since the Cobras were expelled, Lin needed to be drafted again. The Brother Elephants selected him in the first round of the 2009 CPBL Draft, but Lin was not as productive as his first two CPBL seasons. Due to a right shoulder injury, Lin nearly missed the first three seasons with the Brothers, and he only pitched 3 games combined for their big club. He came back in 2013, recording a 3.89 ERA in 16 starts while collecting 8 wins. However, Lin's shoulder was reinjured in 2014, then he announced his retirement. Lin then became a coach for the Brothers.

Overall, Lin was 38-23 with a 2.37 ERA, struck out 446 and pitched 482 1/3 innings in 6 seasons in the CPBL.