Yu-Min Lin

Yu-Min Lin (林昱珉)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 160 lb.
• School Kainan University
• High School Ku Pao Home Economics & Commercial High School

• Born July 12, 2003 in Taitung County Taiwan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Yu-Min Lin has pitched in the minors and for the Taiwanese national team. His brother Wei-Hao Chen pitched in the CPBL.

Lin hit .417/.385/.500 with a runs and 4 RBI in 10 games for Taiwan in the 2018 U-15 Baseball World Cup. He appeared on the hill as well, giving up only 3 runs in 10 innings overall. He had moved to pitching full-time in the 2019 U-18 Baseball World Cup. He relieved Po-Yu Chen, pitching a hitless inning to beat Panama in the opener. Lin then started against Spain, pitched 6 2/3 innings with 8 strikeouts and got the win. He collected 6 2/3 shutout innings and struck 7 to beat South Africa. In the Gold Medal Game, he had a hold in Chien Yu's win, allowing a walk and struck out one in 1/3 of an inning. He tied Brandon Bidois, Po-Yu Chen, Junya Nishi and Luuk ter Beek for second in the event in wins, one behind Alejandro Rosario. He also tied for 5th in wins, tied Po-Yu Chen for second in IP (one behind Justin Luna) and tied for 5th in K with Yu and Hyeong-jun So. For the titlists, he formed a fine big three with Yu and Chen. He also represented Taiwan in the 2021 U-23 Baseball World Cup.

The Arizona Diamondbacks signed Lin with a $600,000 signing bonus on December 17, 2021; the scout was Tzu-Yao Wei. He was hoping to be signed by a team in Nippon Pro Baseball, but when that did not pan out, he accepted the greater challenge of trying to make it in America instead. He made his professional debut on June 11, 2022 for the ACL Diamondbacks Red. The young southpaw pitched 4 innings, struck out 4 and allowed two unearned runs. Lin ended up 0-2 with a 2.35 ERA, struck out 41 before he was prompted to the A Visalia Rawhide. He ended up 2-0 with a 2.97 ERA with the Rawhide. The Taitung native pitched well again in the next season, went 1-3 with a 3.43 ERA and 76 strikeouts with the A+ Hillsboro Hops. He even collected 13 strikeouts in 5 shutout innings on June 4th. The Diamondbacks prompted him again to the AA Amarillo Sod Poodles on July 14th. He went 5-2, 4.28 in 11 starts there to finish with a combined line of 6-5, 3.86, with140 strikeouts in 121 1/3 innings.

Lin then made it onto Taiwan's 24-man roster for the 2023 Asian Games. He pitched 6 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts against South Korea, and he got the win over Dong-ju Moon. He dueled with Moon again in the Gold Medal Game, but was flustered when rain fell in the 2nd inning. Lin recorded 2 wild pitches and allowed 2 runs in that inning, and Moon defeated him with 6 shutout innings. In 2024, he started the year with Amarillo but on April 26th, while sitting in the dugout, he was hit square in the face by a foul ball off the bat of Frisco RoughRiders player Abimelec Ortiz. He suffered a concussion and a broken jaw and had to undergo surgery to repair multiple fractures, putting him on the sidelines until early June, but was lucky to escape with only those injuries. He had started the year poorly after being a non-roster invitee at Arizona's spring camp, sporting an ERA of 7.00 at the time of the injury, but he pitched a lot better when he was able to return to the field. He made one start with the ACL Diamondbacks before returning to Amarillo and eventually went 3-6, 4.26 in 19 starts. Just as the season was winding down in September, the D-Backs promoted him to the AAA Reno Aces, where he made one start, and after the season he pitched in the Arizona Fall League. After the season, he also pitched for Taiwan in the 2024 Premier 12 tournament. In the opener against South Korea, he completed 4 2/3 innings with 2 runs allowed, and he helped Taiwan beat their opponent with a 6-3 score. Lin then started the Gold Medal game against the Japanese national team on November 24th at the Tokyo Dome. It would have been understandable if he had been rattled but it wasn't the case at all: he allowed one infield single over four dominating innings. His great outing set the tone for Taiwan, which scored 4 times in the top of the 5th and went on to defeat their highly-favored opponents, 4-0, for what was maybe the greatest win in the island's baseball history. He returned home a national hero.

Further Reading

• Casey Drottar: "‘Never give up’: D-backs prospect nearing dream of representing Chinese Taipei in MLB", mlb.com, February 19, 2025. [1]