Yong-Wei Kuo

Yong-Wei Kuo (郭永維)
formerly known as Hsiu-Wei Kuo

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 165 lb.

• School Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science
• High School Hua Hsing High School

• Born April 13, 1988 in Taipei County Taiwan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yong-Wei Kuo has been an infielder in the Chinese Professional Baseball League. His brother Hsiu-Yen Kuo has played in the CPBL as well.

Kuo was a 5th-round pick of the La New Bears in the 2009 CPBL Draft. He hit .250 in the minors in 2010, but set a Taiwanese minor league record with a 20-game hitting streak (the mark only stood for a year before De-Long Yu broke it). He made his CPBL debut in 2011, striking out against Jesús Sánchez his first time up. He got his first hit off Sung-Wei Tseng. He finished the year with a batting line of .287/.329/.321 for the Lamigo Monkeys (the Bears having changed hands and names), fielding .949 as a utility infielder, most of his action coming at 3B (61 G). He was also selected into the 2011 CPBL All-Star Game, but he was 0-for-2. In the 2011 Taiwan Series, Kuo hit .364/.364/.409 but the Monkeys lost to the Uni-President Lions in 5 games.

The Taipei native slumped to .198/.282/.247 in 60 games in 2012, fielding .927 with 14-26 games at each 2B, SS and 3B. In 2013, his brother joined the Monkeys; they became the 4th set of brothers to play together in the CPBL. He hit .261/.294/.282 that year, fielding .978; his main position was SS (38 G). He only had three extra-base hits (all doubles) and produced 27 runs. On August 1, he singled off Matt Torra for the 10,000th hit in Lamigo franchise history. Kuo improved to .318/.339/.376 in 2014, then he hit .280/.313/.356 in 2015. He slumped to .148/.220/.148 in 2016 so he only played 27 games, then he hit .238/.312/.274 in 33 games in 2017.

Kuo had a huge improvement in 2018, hitting .344/.367/.399 with 10 doubles and won the CPBL Most Improved Player Award. He had a .200/.278/.400 batting line with a homer off Andy Van Hekken in Game 5, and the Monkeys beat the Lions in 5 games. However, Kuo seemed like a fluke in 2019 as his batting line fell to .148/.148/.185, and he only played 21 games in 2020. He bounced back in 2021 as his batting line was .292/.335/.354, but it soon fell to .247/.300/.301 in 2022. The 35-year-old infielder hit .298/.325/.347 in 49 games in 2023, then the Monkeys released him. He then signed with the TSG Hawks.

Sources

• Taiwan Baseball Wiki
• CPBL player page