Hung-Yuan Lin

Hung-Yuan Lin (林鴻遠) (The Mountain Boar)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 240 lb.

• School Fu Jen Catholic University
• High School Hua Hsing High School

• Born February 10, 1975 in Donghe, Taitung Taiwan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hung-Yuan Lin played almost 800 games in the CPBL and was on the Taiwanese national team.

Lin played for Taiwan in the 1990 World Youth Championship, then helped them take Silver in the 1991 World Junior Championship and Bronze in the 1992 World Junior Championship. He hit .458 in the 1993 World Junior Championship, .003 behind leader Danny Peoples, and led with three home runs. He was named the All-Star catcher and MVP while Taiwan took the Bronze again; he beat out players like Liván Hernández and Paul Konerko for the MVP. He batted .391/.517/.652 with seven runs and eight RBI as Taiwan's DH in the 1994 Baseball World Cup; he did much of his damage against Australia, driving in seven and homering off Andy McNally and Shane Tonkin. He got a Bronze Medal with Taiwan in the 1994 Asian Games.

The Taitung native played in the 1995 Universiade and 1995 Asian Championship (Bronze) then missed the 1995 Intercontinental Cup due to injury. The Los Angeles Dodgers were interested but he was not able to play for them. He kept up his medal run with a Bronze in the 1997 Asian Championship. He turned pro that year, being taken by the Chinatrust Whales. He hit .252/.294/.430 in the 1997 CPBL, backing up at DH, 3B, OF and 1B. In 1998, he batted .267/.301/.427 with ten homers in ninety games, almost entirely at DH. He tied for 8th in the league in dingers. During 1999, he slumped to .133/.204/.178 and had surgery, then was released.

Signed by the Sinon Bulls, he was batting .259/.259/.407 after 28 games in 2000 when he was let go. He was picked up by the Uni-President Lions and hit .330/.403/.624 with 8 homers and 23 RBI in 33 games the rest of the way. The Lions won the 2000 Taiwan Series and he was Game MVP in Game 4. He was down to .240/.315/.341 in the 2001 CPBL but showed good speed for a big man, with seven swipes in nine tries. The Lions fell to the Brother Elephants in the 2001 Taiwan Series. In 2002, his batting line was .270/.324/.419 and he hit ten homers. Taking the field regularly for the first time, he was used as an outfielder. He tied Tai-Shan Chang for 7th in the league in home runs.

Lin produced at a .295/.335/.457 with 18 doubles and 52 RBI in 98 games in the 2003 CPBL, fielding .954 as a flyhawk. He was 10th in doubles, 9th in average and tied for 8th in home runs (9). Splitting left with Hsien-Ming Yu for Taiwan in the 2003 Baseball World Cup, he hit .200/.400/.600 with two homers and three times plunked in seven games. In the Bronze Medal Game loss to Japan, he homered off Kosuke Matsui and drove in 2 of Taiwan's 3 runs in a 7-3 loss. He slumped to .223/.281/.311 in 2004; the Lions fell to the Bulls in the 2004 Taiwan Series.

In 2005, the 30-year-old hit .255/.308/.388, followed by .292/.315/.434 in 2006. He moved to the Macoto Cobras in 2007 and rebounded to .305/.347/.483 with 12 homers, 18 doubles and 60 RBI in 89 games. He tied for 9th in doubles, tied Long-Yi Huang for 8th in home runs and was 9th in RBI. The team was sold and became the dMedia T-Rex in 2008. He hit .301/.363/.410. Unfortunately, the team folded due to a game-fixing scandal. With the CPBL shrinking from six teams to four, he was unable to find a new home. He later coached youth teams.

He had played 798 games in the CPBL, batting .274/.323/.424 with 118 doubles, 71 home runs, 267 runs and 352 RBI. He fielded .965 in the outfield. His six pinch-hit home runs were a CPBL record, later tied by Lien-Hung Chen.