Li Lin

Li Lin (林立) (Nuclear Warhead)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165-189 lb.

• School National Taiwan Sports University
• High School Taoyuan Municipal Ping-Jen Senior High School

• Born January 1, 1996 in Shoufeng, Hualien Taiwan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Li Lin has starred in the CPBL, winning a MVP.

Lin was on the Taiwanese team in the 2011 World Youth Championship. He hit .346/.514/.500 with 10 runs, 8 RBI and 9 walks in 9 games while fielding 47 chances error-free in the 2013 World Junior Championship and was named the All-Star second baseman, beating out Yoan Moncada and Trace Loehr among others. He was 10th in OBP, tied Yasuhito Uchida for 2nd in runs, tied for 6th in RBI, led in walks (one ahead of Yusniel Diaz) and tied for 2nd in assists (26). He played for the Battle Creek Bombers in the US Northwoods League in 2015. He was in the Asian Winter League from 2015-2017.

The Shoufeng native was taken by the Lamigo Monkeys in the 2017 CPBL Draft, in the 2nd round (they took Chien-Fu Liao in the first round). He homered off Chen-Yu Hung in his first CPBL at-bat and hit .340/.415/.511 with 11 RBI and 12 runs in 13 games after joining Lamigo late in 2017. He produced at a .317/.352/.458 clip with 62 runs in 95 games in the 2018 CPBL, fielding .910 in 49 games at 3B, .956 in 35 at 2B and .778 in 3 games at SS. Had he qualified, he would have made the league's top 10 in average.

The youngster really blossomed in 2019. He hit .389/.438/.639 with 29 doubles, 20 homers, 81 RBI and 97 runs in 103 games. He fielded .915 at third base, his main spot. He was 7th in the league in RBI, 2nd to teammate Hung-Yu Lin in runs, 3rd with 151 hits (behind teammates Hung-Yu Lin and Yu-Hsien Chu), tied Cheng-Tang Wang for 2nd in doubles, tied for 3rd in triples (4), 9th in homers (between Chun-Hsiu Chen and Tzu-Hao Chen), 3rd with 248 total bases, 2nd in OBP (.011 behind Chun-Hsiu Chen), 1st in slugging (.001 ahead of Tzu-Hsien Chan) and 1st in average (.008 ahead of Chun-Hsiu Chen). He hit .520 in the 2019 Taiwan Series as Lamigo won it in five games; in the clincher, he was 5 for 5 with a double, two homers, two walks, four runs and six RBI to lead a 20-3 rout of the Chinatrust Brothers. That followed a two-double, one-homer Game 4. He was named Taiwan Series MVP, an easy pick. He won Best Ten honors at third base but Chu won CPBL MVP.

He then made Taiwan's team for the 2019 Premier 12, hitting a two-run homer off Puerto Rico's Fernando Cruz. He hit .211/.211/.368 for the event and fielded .958 at 2B. In the 2020 CPBL, he produced at a .358/.414/.613 clip with 25 homers, 22 steals in 28 tries, 92 runs and 86 RBI but fielded only .886 at the hot corner, his main spot. He lost the batting title by .002 to Chieh-Hsien Chen, was second in OBP (.006 behind Chieh-Hsien Chen), was second in slugging (.028 behind Chu), was second in OPS (18 behind Chu), was third in runs (behind Chih-Chieh Su and Chieh-Hsien Chen), ranked 4th in hits (149, between Tsung-Hsien Lee and Chan), tied An-Ko Lin for 10th in doubles (23), tied for 3rd in triples (4), tied Kuo-Hui Kao for 5th in dingers, was 4th in RBI (between Chih-Hao Chang and Su) and was third in steals (behind Chen-Wei Chen and Tsung-Hsien Lee). He did not make the Best Ten, as Wei-Chen Wang was chosen at third.

Lin had an off-season in 2021 at .278/.341/.429, though he did steal 27 bases in 33 tries. He played mostly center field, but also right and third. He scored 72 runs, second in the league, two behind Wei-Chen Wang. He was third with six triples (behind Chen-Wei Chen and Chieh-Hsien Chen) and led in swipes (four ahead of Ching-Kai Lin). In 2022, he batted .335/.391/.517 and fielded .971 at 2B. With offensive numbers down, he paced the CPBL in runs (74, 7 ahead of Kun-Yu Chiang), hits (140, two more than Tien-Hsin Kuo), doubles (30, 8 ahead of Kai-Wei Li), homers (14, tied with Kungkuan Giljegiljaw), RBI (83, 18 more than Tzu-Hao Chen), average (.008 ahead of Chen-Wei Chen), slugging (.036 ahead of Giljegiljaw), OPS (.074 ahead of Tzu-Hao Chen) and total bases (216, 30 ahead of Kuo-Chen Fan). He was also 4th in steals (22, between Chin Cheng and Kai-Wei Li) and 4th in OBP. He was the third CPBL Triple Crown winner, following Jay Kirkpatrick and Po-Jung Wang. He was the obvious pick for Best Ten at 2B and for MVP.

He made it onto Taiwan's roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In the opener, Lin was 2-for-5 with a RBI against Panama, then he went 2-for-4 versus Italy. Lin was 3-for-5 with a 2-RBI single against Lars Huijer of the Netherlands, then he was 0-for-1 against Cuba as Wei-Chen Wang replaced him early. He led Taiwan in average and tied Yu Chang for their lead in hits. In 2023, Lin suffered from a right foot injury, so he only played 62 games with a .338/.397/.496 batting line. He was 1-for-12 in the 2023 CPBL Playoff Series, then he hit .267/.290/.333 in the 2023 Taiwan Series. The Monkeys lost to the Wei Chuan Dragons in 7 games.

Lin also played for Taiwan in the 2022 Asian Games (which were held in 2023 after delays). He debuted against Thailand, going 1-for-4 with a 3-run homer against Suppakorn Lin in the 3rd inning. He then went 0-for-3 versus South Korea, and he was 1-for-3 against Hong Kong. Lin had a 1-for-4 record in the next game, and he was 1-for-2, with a single against Yoshiki Fuchigami of Japan. In the Gold Medal Game, Lin was 1-for-4 with a single against Woo-suk Go in the 9th inning. Taiwan lost to South Korea and won Silver.