Lien-Hung Chen

Lien-Hung Chen (陳連宏) (The Tall Guy)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 231 lb.

• High School Shin Min High School

• Born September 13, 1973 in Tainan County Taiwan

Biographical Information

Lien-Hung Chen was a long-time player in the Chinese Professional Baseball League and has played for Taiwan's national team. He is the brother of Chin-Feng Chen. He has been a star in Taiwan, though clearly not up to his kid brother's fame. He was very good at drawing walks with an OBP regularly over .400 and has done well in terms of average, power, speed and defense also.

Lien-Hung Chen played for Taiwan in the 1991 World Junior Championship, 1993 Asian Championship, 1994 Baseball World Cup, 1994 Asian Games, 1995 Asian Championship, 1995 Intercontinental Cup and 1999 Asian Championship. He was Taiwan's main right fielder in the 1994 World Cup, hitting .294/.324/.588 with 7 runs, 9 RBI, 4 doubles and two home runs in 8 games. He had three outfield assists and two double plays. His solo homer against Osvaldo Fernandez was Taiwan's lone run against Cuba. In the 1995 Intercontinental Cup, Chen hit .214/.450/.214 as Taiwan's center fielder, showing good plate discipline but not much else. Chen had some trouble with international tournaments due to a fear of flying.

Chen made his pro debut in 1997 with the China Trust Whales, hitting .250/.338/.315. In 1998, he batted .314/.425/.552 with 26 stolen bases in 32 tries. He also homered 16 times. He won a Gold Glove and was named to the Best Nine in the outfield. Chen's batting line in 1999 was .331/.438/.498 and he again was named to the Best Nine. He was second in average, .002 behind Chi-Feng Hung.

Chen hit .304/.422/.521 in 2000 and .287/.395/.437 in 2001. In 2002, Lien-Hung batted .292/.409/.393. The next season, he produced at a .333/.399/.498 in a rebound year after moving to the Uni-President Lions. He was named to the Best 10, the 4th time he was rated one of the CPBL's top flyhawks in terms of overall performance. He was 4th in the loop in average.

In 2004, Chen batted .302/.362/.420. He hit .308/.404/.416 in 2005, .305/.394/.398 in 2006 and .286/.364/.477 in 2007. He had a key hit for the Lions in game 7 of the 2007 Taiwan Series to give them the title over his brother's La New Bears. Through 40 games in 2008, his career batting line reads .304/.400/.458.

Sources

• CPBL Player Page
• Chinese Wiki Baseball
• Defunct IBAF site