Chen Chin-feng (; born 28 October 1977) is a Taiwanese aborigine of Siraya tribal ancestry, who is a former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. In 2002, he became the first player born in Taiwan to play in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. He currently serves as the manager for the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

Playing career

In 1999 in the Cal League with Single–A San Bernardino Stampede in 1999, he batted .316/.404/.580 with 31 homers, 31 steals, 123 RBIs and 75 walks. Along with outfielder Joc Pederson, who achieved the same feat in the Triple–A in 2014, Chen is one of only two LA Dodger minor leaguers to have a 30 home run, 30 stolen bases season. Chen became the first Taiwanese baseball player to play in Major League baseball when he made his debut on September 14, 2002. He played for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

in parts of the 2002-05 seasons, but only sparingly. In 2005, Chen was reluctant to accept a designation for assignment back to the Dodgers' Las Vegas 51s Triple–A team, and try out with another major league team. In 2005, Chen was the first Taiwanese position player to ever get a hit in

, a 2-run RBI single off

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

' reliever Bobby Seay. However, Chin-hui Tsao had earlier become the first Taiwanese player to get a hit in the Majors as a pitcher, with the

on August 18, 2003. After his contract with the Dodgers organization expired after the 2005 season, Chen announced on December 26, 2005, that he would not return to North America for the 2006 season, but would instead enter the CPBL draft. In 2006, after struggling to make the 25-man roster with the Dodgers, Chen tried out for the Japanese professional league ( NPB), and eventually decided to play in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. He was promptly selected by the La New Bears as a

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

. Chen completed his first complete baseball season back home in Taiwan in 2006. He ranked first in many aspects such as the highest batting average and 81 RBIs for the whole season. He also led the Bears to the championship title, and won his first MVP title for the final series matches. Later on, in the second Asian baseball tournament, he produced the best performance again and gained attention from several Japanese and Korean teams, including the

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...

. However, Chen did not sign with them, and remained in Taiwan. Chen announced his retirement from the Chinese Professional Baseball League on September 18, 2016. On September 18, 2016, at the conclusion of his final match, Lamigo Monkeys retired his #52 jersey.

Coaching career

On December 31, 2023, the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League hired Chen as their manager for the 2024 season.

International career

He was selected to the Chinese Taipei national baseball team at the 1999 Asian Baseball Championship, 2001 Baseball World Cup, 2003 Asian Baseball Championship,

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, 2006 Asian Games, 2007 Asian Baseball Championship, 2008 Summer Olympics Qualification Final Qualifying Tournament and 2016 exhibition games against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Achievements

Chen hit the first grand slam in Konami Cup history during the 2006 series.

References

External links