Springfield manager Patrick Anderson, then with the Washington Nationals organization, traveled to Taiwan to help friends run a Nike baseball camp. Anderson scouted several “tall, skinny right-handers”, including one that he’d cross paths with again halfway around the world nearly a decade later.
But by the time Anderson took notes on teenage Chen Wei Lin, the eventual first Taiwanese amateur to be signed by St. Louis was already familiar with professional baseball in America. Lin watched his maternal uncle – Los Angeles Dodgers’ reliever Hung-Chih Kuo – “almost every time” he pitched, despite a 15-hour time difference between LA and his hometown of Tainan City, Taiwan.
Now the roles are reversed, and Kuo is trying to help the Cardinals’ No. 24-ranked prospect reach the Major Leagues.
“I train with him in the offseason,” Lin said prior to striking out five Drillers to help Springfield to a 7-2 win in Tulsa on Thursday night. “He teaches me a lot about how to become a better pitcher, like mental things and focus on the game…I’m working on how do I get strikes as fast as I can. It’s great to be healthy because last year I stayed in Florida a long time.”
Chen-Wei Lin final line (89 pitches):
4.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
He cruised through the first four frames, but ran into some trouble in the 5th
Overall, a nice start, once again limiting walks and inducing plenty of whiffs pic.twitter.com/J1tiLbS9yo
— Adam Akbani (@AdamAkbani) May 15, 2026
Reliever Brandt Thompson finished Lin’s start and earned the victory, and the Cards (15-21) have won five in a row and 8 of their last 10 games.
Lin has been steady in Double-A this spring; he sports a 3.95 ERA and 1.46 WHIP with 39 strikeouts in 27.1 innings that include five starts and two relief appearances. The 6-foot-7 righthander sits in the mid-to-upper 90’s fastball with movement and his extension adds jump to it. Lin battled forearm injuries last season and pitched just 39.1 innings before reaching Springfield in September. The Cardinals are evaluating whether the rotation or bullpen is Lin’s best role.
“We want to make as many starters as possible, obviously,” Anderson said. “We’re trying to find out fitting for him and how he can develop into either one of the two.”
“He runs a little bit of a sinker, but he powers it, drives through the zone pretty well and guys are taking some, you know, defensive swings at times,” Anderson said. “He’s got some focused player plan that we have for him and he’s really working on that and doing a great job controlling the running game as well.”
Lin caught the Cardinals’ attention with a strong showing in the Northwoods League (Kenosha Kingfish) and Collegiate Summer league (Frederick Keys). He helped the Chinese Taipei national team prepare for the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and with the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, Lin has a chance to bring the family baseball story full circle.
““First thing I want is to keep healthy for the entire season, and I’m working on the slider, changeup and splitter,” he said. “If I have the opportunity to play for Taiwan, I would be happy to play for them, but right now I’m thinking how to become a better player, so I can earn the opportunity to play for the country.”
