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.

Po-Yu Chen

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Po-Yu Chen in the 2020-2021 offseason as one of their top international signees. The Pirates were able to sign Chen because of a trade made in the 2020 season, specifically when they sent Jarrod Dyson to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for international bonus pool money. Chen has pitched well so far in his pro career and has become one of the organization's more notable prospects.

Last season with Bradenton, Chen had a 4.58 ERA but a 3.76 FIP and 1.26 WHIP. Chen struck out 24.5% of opponents with a solid 8.7% walk rate. Chen did a solid job at limiting home runs, coming in with a 0.73 HR/9 rate through 98.1 innings of work. Chen only had a ground ball rate of 41.4%, but his xFIP still painted him in a positive light, coming in at 3.81 and only five points higher than his actual FIP.

Chen's stuff on paper is not impressive. His fastball only sits 90-93 MPH with a slider and curveball. But the one offering that does stand out is his splitter, which projects as a plus-plus offering. While his fastball/slider/curveball are average at best, they all play up because of his pinpoint command. He's one of the best command pitchers in the Pirate system who started off his career without allowing a single walk in his first 26 innings back in 2021.

Chen will start the 2023 campaign at Greensboro. He's only 21, but the right-hander could greatly improve his stock if he can conquer the launching pad that Greensboro is. Plus at such a young age and still only 6'2", 187 pounds, he could add another tick of velocity before he makes his big league debut. His fastball would really play up if he was consistently sitting 92-94 MPH.

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.