Yu-Hsien Chu

From BR Bullpen

Yu-Hsien Chu (朱育賢) (Dimple Cannon)

  • Bats Left, Throws Left
  • Height 6' 2", Weight 220 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Yu-Hsien Chu has been CPBL MVP and has played for the Taiwanese national team.

Chu was a 7th-round pick of the Lamigo Monkeys in the 2015 CPBL Draft. [1] He hit .352/.459/.615 for the Lamigo Monkeys in the 2016 CPBL. Had he qualified, he would have ranked 5th in average and 6th in slugging. [2] He had no shot at Rookie of the Year, though, as Po-Jung Wang had the best rookie season in CPBL history. In 2017, he was Lamigo's main left fielder but also played significant time at 1B, hitting .308/.397/.610 with 29 doubles, 27 home runs and 83 RBI. He was second in RBI (18 behind Wang), second in slugging (.090 behind Wang), 4th in doubles (between Chih-Chieh Su and Hung-Yu Lin) and second in home runs (four behind Wang). He did not make the Best Ten as Cheng-Wei Chang and Chih-Hao Chang joined Wang in the outfield. He was 0-for-6 in the 2017 Taiwan Series and Lamigo beat the CTBC Brothers to win the title.

In the 2018 CPBL, the LF/1B slumped to .319/.375/.479 with 12 homers but still drove in 82. He was 3rd in RBI, behind Chih-Hsien Chiang and Wang. He drove in four in the 2018 Taiwan Series finale as Lamigo won again, and his batting line was .333/.500/.667. He produced at a .347/.394/.605 clip in 2019 with 26 doubles, 30 home runs, 93 runs and 105 RBI. He made the leaderboards in average (5th, between Hung-Yu Lin and Chin-Lung Hu), OBP (6th), slugging (4th, between Chun-Hsiu Chen and Hung-Yu Lin), RBI (2nd, 3 behind Yi-Chuan Lin), runs (3rd, behind Hung-Yu Lin and Li Lin), doubles (tied for 4th) and dingers (1st, 3 ahead of Yi-Chuan Lin and Su). In the 2019 CPBL All-Star Game 1, Chu was 2-for-3 with a 2-run homer off Alec Asher in the 4th inning in Game 1, but he was 0-for-1 in Game 2. He blasted 11 homers in June, and that is still (through 2023) the monthly record for the CPBL. He won CPBL MVP for his efforts. Lamigo won the 2019 Taiwan Series, and he was 3-for-9 with 3 RBI.

Chu then was on Taiwan's team for the 2019 Premier 12, but he was only 1-for-10. He only used 13 games to reach 10 homers in 2020, and that was the fastest in CPBL annals. Chun ended up hitting .353/.405/.641 with 27 homers, and led the league in slugging. He ranked 3rd in homers (5 behind An-Ko Lin), 3rd in batting (.007 behind Chieh-Hsien Chen) and 9th in hits (48 behind Chen). He had another fine season in 2021, hitting .311/.367/.530 with a league-leading 22 homers. He also led the league in RBI and slugging. Chu struggled in 2022, and his batting line fell to .23/.289/.395 with 11 homers. He was 2-for-12 in the 2022 Taiwan Series, and the Monkeys were swept by the Brothers.

The Hsinchu native bounced back in 2023, and he hit .275/.355/.449 with 13 homers. He ranked 6th in RBI (21 behind Chien-Fu Liao) and 5th in homers (10 behind Giljegiljaw Kungkuan). In the 2023 Taiwan Series, Chu recorded a .400/.444/.680 batting line with 2 homers and 4 RBI, but the Monkeys still lost to the Wei-Chuan Dragons in 7 games.

Sources[edit]

  1. Taiwan Baseball Wiki
  2. CPBL player page (unless otherwise noted, all CPBL stats are from the CPBL site)