Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Top Players From Taiwan

Taiwan hasn't produced many Major League Baseball players, but the Pittsburgh Pirates have a chance to break that trend with three highly touted prospects from the country

Taiwan isn't necessarily a hotbed for baseball talent. In Major League history, there have only been 16 players who were born in Taiwan to debut in America. Of those 16, just two have more than 100 plate appearances, and five have pitched in 50+ games throughout their big league careers. Among all the prospects ranked by FanGraphs, only two are from Taiwan.

But those two are Pittsburgh Pirates' prospects. Along with them, the Bucs also have a third unranked but still noteworthy Taiwanese prospect. The organization signed all three out of the international market. But there's a chance that they will find a productive Taiwanese prospect among their trio.

Tsung-Che Cheng

Tsung-Che Cheng, a 2019 July international signee, has done nothing but hit since making his professional debut in 2021. In his first look at the Pirates' Florida Complex League affiliate, Cheng had a .941 OPS, .442 wOBA, and 154 wRC+ with a 30:14 K:BB ratio. Although he wasn't a 150+ wRC+ batter in 2022, he was still productive at the plate and had a phenomenal second half.

In 458 plate appearances, Cheng had a .270/.376/.418 line. Cheng walked at a 13.8% rate with a strikeout rate of just 20.7%. Cheng did have 25 doubles but just six home runs. He had more triples than dingers, with seven triples. Cheng used his ability to get on base to its fullest potential, swiping 33 total bases. All told, Cheng finished out the year with a .372 wOBA and 129 wRC+.

Those numbers are all well and good, but Cheng got off to an ice-cold start. From May 15th through September, Cheng was a .287/.405/.444 batter with a .397 wOBA, and 145 wRC+. Cheng struck out less (19.6% strikeout rate), walked more frequently (15.3%), and also hit for more power (.157 isolated slugging percentage) through his final 327 plate appearances of the season.

Cheng is fast and makes a lot of contact. Those are his two biggest strengths. He's also considered an average defensive middle infielder. He mostly played shortstop last season but still has plenty of experience at the keystone and at the hot corner. He also has a strong enough arm to stick on the left side of the infielder. But it's all going to come down to how his power develops or if he can develop his approach to work around his lack of power.

The Taiwanese infielder stands at just 5'7", 155 pounds. Sure, he's not all that much smaller than Termarr Johnson, who is 5'7",175 pounds, but Cheng doesn't have nearly the same physicality or bat speed as the former fourth overall pick. He has bottom-of-the-barrel raw power, and while he never is going to rival Barry Bonds, that doesn't mean he won't ever be productive. If Cheng can consistently spray line drives over the field and walk at an above-average rate, he could be a proto-typical leadoff hitter-type who can move around the field.

Hung-Leng Chang

One of the Pirates' highest-paid 2021-2022 international signees was Hung-Leng Chang. Coming out of Taiwan, Chang signed for $500K, the fourth-highest signing bonus for the Pirates that off-season. Chang made his debut for the Pirates' FCL affiliate and made a good first impression in his small sample size of work.

Although he only pitched 22.2 innings, Chang had a 4.76 ERA but 2.50 FIP and 1.32 WHIP. Chang struggled with some bad batted ball luck with a .355 BAbip. But he struck out well over a quarter of the opponents he did face (27.8%), had a walk rate clocking in the low-8s at 8.2%, and didn't allow a single home run. Chang's ground ball rate was a healthy 48.3% mark, helping him limit extra-base hit damage done against him.

Like his fellow countryman, Chen, Chang is not a flamethrower but has some room to add a tick or two of velocity before he makes his big league debut. He only sits in the low-90s but tops out at 94 MPH. He's tall at 6'2", but is thin, weighing in around 160 pounds. But he just turned 21 in early October. There's a good chance he will add a bit of muscle between now and when he's 23-24 years of age.

In total, he throws five offerings and was signed for both his advanced pitching at a young age as well as his projectability. Those are two things that could really help him out in the long run. He'll get his shot at Bradenton next season, and if he continues to build off the strong debut he had at the FCL, there's no doubt he could start appearing on prospect lists by the end of the season.