Ta-Yuan Kuan

Ta-Yuan Kuan (官大元)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 150 lb.

• School Chiayi University
• High School St. Peter High School

• Born September 9, 1983 in Hsinchu City Taiwan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ta-Yuan Kuan pitched in the CPBL for 13 years.

Kuan went undrafted in 2008, then was a fourth-round pick of the Brother Elephants in 2010. He had a great debut in 2011, going 10-5 with a 3.46 ERA. He tied Ching-Ming Wang and Tyler Lumsden for 4th in the league in wins, behind import hurlers Orlando Roman, Dan Reichert and Ken Ray. He was named CPBL Rookie of the Year, succeeding Wang. He also attended the 2011 CPBL All-Star Game, and he notched a hold with a shutout inning.

The Hsinchu native extended his solid pitching in 2011, having a 11-3 record with a 4.72 ERA in 57 relief outings. He broke the CPBL record by collecting 11 wins as a reliever, and he ranked 3rd in wins (5 behind Yuya Kamada). Kuan allowed a run in 2 innings in the 2012 CPBL All-Star Game. In 2013, Kuan notched 20 holds with a 2.53 ERA in 65 games. He and Hiroki Sanada were the first pair of teammates to both notch 20 holds in a season. He ranked 3rd in holds (12 behind Sanada) and 2nd in appearances (2 behind Sanada). He was also selected into the 2013 CPBL All-Star Game, and he pitched a shutout inning. He then represented Taiwan in the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, and he struck out both batters he faced to get a hold against New Zealand. He also pitched for Taiwan in the 2012 Asian Championship, and he completed a 7-inning Mercy rule no-hitter with Yu-Ching Lin and Hung-Cheng Lai against Pakistan.

Kuan slumped to a 5.73 ERA in 33 games in 2014, and he pitched 2 1/3 innings with a run allowed in the 2014 Taiwan Series. The Elephants lost to the Lamigo Monkeys in 5 games. He bounced back soon, collecting a league-leading 19 holds with a 3.66 ERA in 59 appearances in 2015. He ranked 2nd in appearances, one behind Yi-Hao Lin. Kuan also pitched a shutout inning in the 2015 CPBL All-Star Game, and he notched another hold. In the 2015 Taiwan Series, Kuan pitched 4 games but he allowed 6 runs in 2 1/3 innings, and the Elephants were beaten by the Monkeys in 7 games.

However, Kuan struggled in the 2016 season, and his ERA rose to 8.48 in 34 appearances. He only pitched one inning and allowed a run in the 2016 Taiwan Series, and the EDA Rhinos beat the Brothers in 6 games. He mainly stayed in the minors in 2017, and he gave up 14 runs in 14 1/3 innings with the big club. Kuan bounced back a little in the next two seasons, and he had a 4.88 ERA in 28 games in 2018 then his ERA was 4.77 in 41 games in 2019. Kuan had a terrible 2020 season as his ERA was 12.15, then he came back in 2021. The veteran righty recorded a solid 3.14 ERA in 49 appearances, and he won the CPBL Comeback Player of the Year award. His ERA was 3.97 in 18 games in 2022. After only having 5 appearances in 2023, Kuan announced his retirement.

Overall, Kuan was 46-25 with a 4.39 ERA, collected 71 holds in 450 games, struck out 387 and pitched 654 innings in 13 innings in the CPBL. As of 2023, he ranked 8th in appearances (136 behind Chien-San Kao) and 9th in holds (54 behind Yu-Hsun Chen.

Kuan's repertoire includes a slider, changeup, forkball, curveball, cutter and fastball (90.7 mph peak).

Sources

• Taiwan Baseball Wiki
• CPBL Player Page