Wei-Chen Wang

From BR Bullpen

Wei-Chen Wang (王威晨) (Running Man)

  • Bats Left, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 0", Weight 165 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Wei-Chen Wang has played in the CPBL and for the Taiwanese national team. He is the son of Kuang-Huei Wang and the nephew of Kuang-Shih Wang, both Olympic players. [1]

Wang was on the Taiwan squad that was scheduled to play in the 2007 World Youth Championship before that event was canceled. [2] He was with Taiwan for the 2008 World Junior Championship. [3] The Brother Elephants took him in the 13th round of the 2015 CPBL Draft, after some teams had already stopped drafting. [4] He was 1 for 12 in the 2016 CPBL, his lone hit coming off Cheng-Hao Cheng. [5]

The Taipei native improved to .280/.339/.360 in 2017, backing up Chih-Hsien Chiang at second base. He then erupted in the Asia Winter League, hitting .397/.512/.544 and leading in average and OBP. [6] In 2018, he became a regular for the team (now the Chinatrust Brothers, hitting .335/.391/.387 with 74 runs and 44 steals in 63 tries. He fielded .991 in 59 games at 2B and .939 in 65 games at 3B. Wang also attended the 2018 CPBL All-Star Game, and he was 2-for-2 with a run scored. He tied Yin-Lun Lan for 6th in average, tied for 8th in OBP, was 5th in runs (between Pin-Chieh Chen and Lan) and easily led in swipes (26 ahead of Che-Hsuan Lin). He was the first CPBL player to reach 40 steals in 9 years, since Sheng-Wei Wang had done it.

In 2019, he fell off somewhat to .317/.349/.370 with 64 runs and 27 stolen bases (caught 11 times). He again led in steals, five ahead of Chen-Wei Chen. Wang was selected into the 2019 CPBL All-Star Games, and he was 1-for-5 with a steal. He got his first CPBL homer on September 4, off Michael Nix. [7] He also won the CPBL Gold Glove at third base. [8] He had 3 hits and 3 RBI against the Lamigo Monkeys in Game 2 of the 2019 Taiwan Series but they dropped all the other games; his bating line was .429/.500/.667. [9]

Wang made Taiwan's team for the 2019 Premier 12. He hit .280/.333/.320 with four runs and three RBI in seven games; the speedster did not attempt a steal but handled 12 chances error-free at third base. His 8th-inning single off Australia's Ryan Searle scored Tung-Hua Yueh with the winning run. He was named the event's All-Star third baseman, joining Yi Chang as the Taiwanese players picked. He was joined on the All-Star infield by Bobby Dalbec, Ryosuke Kikuchi and Ha-seong Kim. [10]

Wei-Chen kept rolling into 2020 at .339/.386/.433 with 29 doubles, 90 runs and a .958 fielding percentage at third though his steals were down (17 SB, 9 CS). He reached 50 hits in his 28th game, a new CPBL record; four players had shared the old mark of 30. [11] He made the leaderboards in average (4th, between Yu-Hsien Chu and Tzu-Hsien Chan), runs (tied An-Ko Lin for 4th), hits (170, 2nd, 4 behind Chieh-Hsien Chen), doubles (4th) and steals (5th). [12] Wang's 501 at-bats in a season is still the CPBL record through 2023. He won a Gold Glove at third again and also made his first Best Ten team. [13] In the 2020 Taiwan Series, Wang hit .345/.306/.448 but the Brothers were beaten again by the Uni-President Lions in 7 games.

Wang was still a solid third baseman in 2021, hitting .323/.368/.354 with 21 steals and led the league in runs and hits. He was 3rd in batting (.029 behind Chun-Hsiu Chen) and 6th in steals (6 behind Li Lin). He won the Best Ten and Gold Glove again. In the 2021 Taiwan Series, Wang hit .353/.368/.353 and he won his first Taiwan Series title as the Brothers swept the Lions. In the 2022 CPBL All-Star Games, Wang was 3-for-7. He ended up hitting .314/.346/.360 with 11 steals, ranking 5th in batting (.021 behind Li Lin) and 3rd in hits (8 behind Lin). He won both Best Ten and Gold Glove again. Wang helped the Brothers sweep the Monkeys in the 2022 Taiwan Series, and his batting line was .429/.500/.571.

In the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Wang only had 3 at-bats as the backup of Nien-Ting Wu. He was 0-for-1 versus Panama, and he had a 1-for-2 record with a single against Raidel Martinez of Cuba after Onelki Garcia struck him out. [14] On August 11, 2023, he hit his first walk-off hit, against Hua-Wei Lo of the Wei Chuan Dragons. He and his father Kuang-Hui Wang became the first pair of father-and-son to both collect a walk-off hit in the CPBL. He attended the 2023 CPBL All-Star Game, and he was 2-for-6 with a RBI. Wang slumped to .272/.305/.312 in 2023, but he still won the Gold Glove with his elite defense.

Sources[edit]

  1. Taiwan Baseball Wiki
  2. ibid.
  3. ibid.
  4. ibid.
  5. ibid.
  6. ibid.
  7. ibid.
  8. ibid.
  9. CPBL site
  10. 2019 Premier 12
  11. Taiwan Baseball Wiki
  12. CPBL site
  13. Taiwan Baseball Wiki
  14. 2023 World Baseball Classic