Wei-Chu Lin

Wei-Chu Lin (林威助)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 168 lb.
• School Kinki University
• High School Yanagawa High School

• Born January 22, 1979 in Taichung City Taiwan

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Wei-Chu Lin played in the [[CPBL] and NPB for 14 years.

Lin was on the winning team in the 1991 Little League World Series. A native of Taiwan, Lin came to Japan as an exchange student at age 18 with hopes of playing in the Koshien Tournament. He did not register in time, though, and was ineligible. After college, he was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in the 7th round of the 2003 NPB draft. Lin spent most of 2004 in ni-gun but did make it briefly to the Tigers, going 1 for 7. He also played in the 2004 Olympics and went 3 for 9 in two games in center field, 2 as a pinch-hitter and one at DH. He had a double, one run and one RBI for Taiwan. In 2005, the 26-year-old batted .417/.500/.667 in a 8-game trial with Hanshin.

The Taitung native was on the Taiwanese national team again for the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He was 3 for 12 with a walk, double and run as the starting left fielder for Taiwan. Back with Hanshin, Lin became a key bench player with a .303/.354/.579 line in 82 plate appearances over 67 games. Opportunities were limited due to the return of veterans Shane Spencer and Shinjiro Hiyama in right and the emergence (after those two struggled significantly, looking washed-up) of oft-injured Osamu Hamanaka, who was in the Central League's top 10 in average, OBP and slugging. The fact that reigning MVP Tomoaki Kanemoto was in LF and SB king Norihiro Akahoshi in CF did not help matters. He was on the Taiwanese team that won Gold in the 2006 Asian Games, something no Taiwanese baseball team had done before or since (through 2023).

When Hamanaka was injured again in 2007, it opened the door for Lin to play regularly and he responded well. Lin was hitting .343 through the end of May with 8 home runs. He moved to first base in June when Andy Sheets was sent down. Overall, he batted .292/.321/.455 with 15 home runs in his first year as a regular. Lin damaged ligaments in his left knee in 2008 and had to miss the 2008 Olympics. He was back with Taiwan for the 2009 World Baseball Classic, going 1 for 7 with the team's only extra-base hit of the event, a double off Jiangang Lu. He hit .208/.255/.354 in 2009, getting only 102 plate appearances and spending most of the year in the Japanese minors. He batted .289/.319/.467 in 69 games in 2010, backing up Kanemoto in left and Kodai Sakurai in right. He fell to .167/.174/.233 in 92 plate appearances in 2011 and was 1 for 7 in 2012 and 0 for 4 in 2013.

His career in Japan over, he returned to his native Taiwan but eked out a .190/.261/.230 line for the Chinatrust Brothers in the 2014 CPBL after they selected him in the third round of the 2013 CPBL Draft. He showed he wasn't done by batting .309/.340/.430 in 2015, playing mainly DH. He hit .310/.373/.437 in 2016. He wrapped up as a player at age 38, going 2 for 15 with a walk in 2017. He then managed in the minors in Taiwan before becoming manager of the Brothers for 2021, winning the 2021 Taiwan Series his first year as a skipper in Taiwan's top loop. He won another title in 2022 then was replaced during 2023 by Cheng-Ming Peng.

Overall, Lin hit .264/.298/.414 with 270 hits and 31 homers in 10 seasons in the NPB. His batting line was .288/.341/.396 with 194 hits and 12 homers in 4 seasons in the CPBL.

Sources==

• Japanesebaseball.com by Michael Westbay
• Jim Allen article on Lin for the Daily Yomiuri
• Defunct IBAF website
• World Baseball Classic website
• Taiwan Baseball Wiki