Taiwanese Prospects Set Their Sights on the Majors

By Dat Winning

Per the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres took “an unprecedented dip into the international free agent market” by signing its first ever Asian Amateur on Sunday, 19-year-old Wen-Hua Sung of Taiwan.

A right-handed pitcher, Sung currently plays for the Taiwanese under-23 national team and National Taiwan Sports University. He will not join the team right away but is expected to join the Padres’ fall instructional league.

There are only two Taiwanese players currently in the majors including Wei-Yin Chen (LHP), who just signed a 5-year, $80 million USD contract with the Miami Marlins, and former New York Yankees star, Chien-Ming Wang (RHP), who just returned to the majors with the Kansas City Royals as a reliever.

Sung’s signing comes on the heels of Lyle Lin becoming the first Taiwanese-born player taken in the MLB Draft on June 11. He was selected in the 16th round, 477th overall by the Seattle Mariners.

Lin grew up in Taipei, Taiwan but moved to Orange County, CA to attend high school at JSerra Catholic High School. He will play for Arizona State University after he finishes this senior year at JSerra.

Photos of Lyle Lin from @lin_lyle.