Po-Hsuan Keng

From BR Bullpen

Po-Hsuan Keng (耿伯軒)

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 1", Weight 235 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Po-Hsuan Keng pitched in the minor leagues and the CPBL over a career of 12 years. He pitched for the Taiwanese national team in several events, including the Olympics.

Keng was 2-0 with a 4.63 ERA in the 2002 World Junior Championship, allowing one run in 5 1/3 IP in the semifinals against the US for the victory. Players on the US team included Delmon Young, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Lastings Milledge and Ian Stewart. He tied six other hurlers, including Chad Billingsley and Dave Davidson for the most wins in the tournament. He then had a 1-1 record with a 4.05 ERA in the 2004 Haarlem Baseball Week. Keng was awful in the 2004 Olympics, allowing hits to four batters, walking one and retiring none during a relief stint in a 10-2 loss to the Cuban national team.

The Toronto Blue Jays signed Keng in 2005, and debuted professionally with the 2005 Lansing Lugnuts, going 5-5 with a 5.08 ERA; opponents hit .303 against the 20-year-old. He started in the 2005 Baseball World Cup against the Japanese national team and allowed one run in four innings, walking four. His relievers surrendered six in the next five as Taiwan lost 5-1; Keng got a no-decision.Keng allowed only one hit and no runs in three innings of work during the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He was 1-4 with 3 saves and a 2.33 ERA in 32 games for Lansing in 2006 and 0-1 with a 10.38 ERA and .410 opponent average in 7 appearances for the Dunedin Blue Jays.

Keng was on the Taiwan entry that won Bronze in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, going 0-1 with a 3.68 ERA and two saves in five games as the team's closer. His loss was a rough one against the Dutch national team. He entered in the 9th of a 1-1 game, relieving Yueh-Ping Lin and retired three of four batters. In the 10th, he walked Sharnol Adriana, who was bunted over by Roel Koolen. Keng walked Sidney de Jong. Ivanon Coffie singled to load the bases. Raily Legito hit a sacrifice fly to score Adriana. Danny Rombley singled home de Jong and Coffie. Keng then walked Michael Duursma before being yanked in favor of Sung-Wei Tseng. He had allowed 3 runs, 4 walks and 2 hits in a 1 1/3 IP. He tied Pedro Luis Lazo and Dave Draijer for second in the Cup in saves, one behind Shoji Matsuoka. He won Gold with Taiwan in the 2006 Asian Games, the baseball team's only Asian Games Gold through 2020.

In 2007, Keng was 1-5 with 6 saves and a 4.50 ERA for Lansing. He rejoined Taiwan's national team for the 2007 Baseball World Cup and was 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA in the event. His loss came in relief against the Dutch national team; Keng relieved Ming-Chieh Hsu in the 8th with a one-run lead, two out and two on and retired Sidney de Jong. In the 9th, he got the first two batters before Vince Rooi hit a game-tying homer. Keng pitched a scoreless 10th and then allowed a de Jong single to open the 11th. Fu-Te Ni relieved him and gave up four runs. As de Jong had gotten on base against Keng, Keng took the loss. He onlt faced four batters in the 2007 Asian Championship - he walked two, allowed one hit and a sacrifice hit. He was charged with two runs.

Due to a strained elbow from a bone chip which sidelined him until the second half of June, Keng came off the DL in the third week of June. He only pitched one minor league game in 2008, allowing 5 hits and 2 runs in 1/3 of an inning for the GCL Blue Jays and getting his release a week later. Keng was on Taiwan's roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic but did not pitch in the tournament. The La New Bears then selected him in the first round of the 2008 CPBL Draft. He made his CPBL debut on April 2, 2009, and he pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings against the Sinon Bulls. He ended up having a 3.68 ERA in 55 games, and he also notched 12 holds. He was 6th in appearances (between Chin-Chih Huang and Chia-Rui Mai) and 6th in holds (between Huang and Cheng-Feng Lin).

Keng was still a solid reliever in 2010, collecting 8 holds and 10 saves with a 3.26 ERA in 51 appearances. He was 6th in games pitched (between Ming-Chieh Hsu and Jerome Williams), 5th in saves (between Williams and Hsu) and 9th in saves (tied with Feng-Hua Lee). However, he slumped to a 5.65 ERA in 24 games in 2011, and his ERA was 7.06 in 12 games in 2012. He pitched 2/3 of an inning with a run allowed in 2012 Taiwan Series Game 3, and Keng won his only Taiwan Series title as the Lamigo Monkeys (the Bears had changed their name) beat the Uni-President Lions.

The Monkeys then traded him to the Brother Elephants for Ying-Shan Wang, and Keng bounced back in 2013. He had a 3.84 ERA in 18 games, then he pitched 34 games with a 4.00 ERA in 2014. He relieved Ta-Yuan Kuan in the 9th inning of 2014 Taiwan Series Game 3, and he pitched a shutout inning. The Elephants were beaten by the Monkeys in 5 games. Keng had a 13.50 ERA in 10 games in 2015, and he announced his retirement after this season. He became a scout for the San Diego Padres in 2016, signing Wen-Hua Sung.

Keng's repertoire included a fastball (peak 94 mph), knuckle curve, changeup, sinker and forkball.

Overall, Keng was 12-12 with a 4.27 ERA, collected 36 holds and 12 saves in 204 games, pitched 192 innings and struck out 87 in 7 seasons in the CPBL.

Sources[edit]

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