Szu-Chi Chou

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Szu-Chi Chou (周思齊) (The Chairman)

  • Bats Left, Throws Left
  • Height 5' 10", Weight 200 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Szu-Chi Chou played in the CPBL, winning MVP once. His cousin Ku-Yuan Chen also played pro baseball.

Chou played in the 1999 World Junior Championship for Taiwan. While in college, he represented Taiwan in the 2001 Asian Championship (helping Taiwan win Gold) and 2002 World University Championship. He was drafted by the Macoto Cobras in the third round of the 2003, and he debuted in 2005; he went 5 for 19. In 2006, he hit .233/.276/.301. He made major strides in the 2007 season, batting .308/.372/.475. In 2008, Chou improved to .330/.394/.467 with 7 triples and 20 doubles in 85 games for the team, now called the dMedia T-Rex. He was also selected into the 2008 CPBL All-Star Game, but he was 0-for-3; he would never miss this event until 2022. Chou ranked 7th in batting (.061 behind Cheng-Min Peng), 7th in hits (28 behind Kuan-Jen Chen) and 7th in runs (30 behind Tilson Brito). He was named to the Best Ten for his work in the outfield, becoming the only member of the T-Rex so chosen. When the T-Rex folded in a gambling scandal, he was picked by the Brother Elephants in the third round of the redistribution draft.

The Hualien native extended his solid batting, hitting .311/.381/.429 with 25 doubles and won the Best Ten again. He ranked 9th in batting (.056 behind Wu-Hsiung Pan) and 6th in doubles (12 behind Wilton Veras). He hit .343/.395/.343 in the 2009 Taiwan Series, but the Brothers lost to the Uni-President Lions in 7 games. Chou played all 120 games in 2010 while batting .298/.353/.406, and he led the league in doubles with 29. He also ranked 7th in batting (.059 behind Peng), 4th in hits (6 behind Tai-Shan Chang) and 8th in RBI (23 behind Chih-Sheng Lin). He hit .357/.438/.571 in 2010 Taiwan Series with a go-ahead 3-run homer off Juan A. Pena in Game 4, and the Elephants swept the Sinon Bulls.

Chou played all 120 games and led the league in doubles again in 2011, and his batting line was .302/.368/.459 this time. He ranked 2nd in triples (2 behind Cheng-Wei Chang), 5th in runs (22 behind Chang) and 8th in hits (35 behind Chang). Chou had his career year in 2012. He recorded a .365/.462/.587 batting line with 21 homers, led the league in walks and won his third Best Ten. He was named the CPBL Most Valuable Player. Chou ranked 3rd in batting (.023 behind Pan), 8th in runs (17 behind Cheng-Wei Chang), 3rd in RBI (5 behind Tai-Shan Chang), 3rd in hits (14 behind Cheng-Wei Chang), 6th in doubles (19 behind Yi-Chuan Lin) and 2nd in homers (3 behind Chih-Sheng Lin). He was 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI in the 2012 CPBL All-Star Game.

After his gorgeous 2012 season, Chou played in several international events for Taiwan. He hit .429/.692/.571 with 6 walks (tied for the lead with Gift Ngoepe) in the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, and helped Taiwan advance. He then hit .278/.381/.500 with a triple in the 2012 Asian Championship, and Taiwan won Silver. In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Chou hit .200/.333/.267 with a double but Taiwan was eliminated in the second round. He recorded the 10,000th steal in the CPBL on July 11 in 2013 season, and ended up hitting .316/.373/.451.

Chou slumped to .277/.354/.364 in 2014, and he hit .321/.355/.500 in the 2014 Taiwan Series; the CTBC Brothers were beaten by the Monkeys in 5 games. He bounced back soon in 2015, hitting .349/.414/.528 with 15 homers; he ranked 5th in batting (.024 behind Chin-Lung Hu), 7th in hits (27 behind Hu) and 8th in homers (24 behind Kuo-Hui Kao). He was 1-for-3 with a RBI double in the 2015 CPBL All-Star Game. Chou recorded a .321/.355/.500 batting line with a homer in 7 games in the 2015 Taiwan Series, but the Brothers still lost to the Monkeys.

In the 2016 season, Chou's batting was still solid and he hit .342/.428/.555 with 17 homers and a league-leading 65 walks. He was 8th in batting (.058 behind Po-Jung Wang), 6th in RBI (5 behind Hung-Yu Lin) and 6th in hits (60 behind Wang). He was 1-for-2, with a 2-run homer against Wen-Yang Liao in the 2016 CPBL All-Star Game. In the 2016 Taiwan Series, Chou hit .304/.385/.348 and the Elephants were beaten by the EDA Rhinos in 6 games. Chou set the CPBL record by drawing a walk in 8 consecutive at-bats, and he ended up hitting .302/.386/.408 in 2017. He was selected into the 2017 CPBL All-Star Game, and he had a 2-for-5 record with a RBI. He was only 2-for-12 in the 2017 Taiwan Series, and the Brothers were beaten by the Monkeys in 7 games.

Chou hit .305/.359/.452 with 11 homers in 2018, and he was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI in the 2018 CPBL All-Star Game. He became the oldest player to blast 3 homers in a game, and he did it on August 2 against the Monkeys. Chou slumped to .258/.313/.411 in 2019, and he was 1-for-4 in the 2019 Taiwan Series; the Monkeys beat the Brothers in 5 Games. He came back and had an incredible season in 2020. 39-year-old Chou hit .324/.386/.589 with a career high 22 homers, ranked 6th in batting (.036 behind Chieh-Hsien Chen), 5th in doubles (6 behind Chen) and 7th in homers (10 behind An-Ko Lin). He won his first Best Ten as a designated hitter. Chou hit .370/.433/.444 in the 2020 Taiwan Series, but the Brothers lost to the Lions in 7 games.

The veteran slumped to .228/.284/.311 in 69 games in 2021, and he was 1-for-12 with 3 RBI in the 2021 Taiwan Series. The Brothers swept the Lions to win the title. Chou struggled again in 2022 as his batting line was .235/.278/.349, but he bounced back in 2023. He hit .272/.341/.325 and attended the 2023 CPBL All-Star Game; he was 2-for-6 with a run.

Sources[edit]

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