For the first time in Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) history, two rookie players from the same team walked away with the Pitcher of the Month and Offensive Player of the Month honors in the same month.
Wu Si-yo (
The two first-year standouts followed the footstep of fellow rookie second baseman Shih Chih-wei (
Unlike many promising rookies, Wu did not exactly start off his professional career with a bang as he went 0-2 in his first four starts with a seven-plus ERA.
The rocky start promptly demoted the 22-year-old southpaw down to the Bears bullpen from late May through July, before Wu regained the confidence of his coaching staff for a spot on the starting rotation with an outstanding August, winning the Super Fantasy Most Valuable Player honor during the month-long intra-league exhibition play.
The intra-league exhibition play named "Fantasy Play" was established to fill in for the month-long stoppage of regular season play as the league's top players headed to the Athens Summer Olympics.
"August was a big breakthrough for me as far as getting myself mentally prepared for the hitters in the league," Wu said after winning the top honor for Fantasy Play with an impressive 12-strikeout mark over the ten innings he pitched. "I'm grateful for the opportunities that the coaching staff has given me and the confidence that they had in me."
Since his return to the starting rotation in early September, Wu has racked up four straight wins to go 4-0 with an incredible ERA of 0.91 for the month, the main reason that the Bears managed a club-best 9-6-1 mark for any single month.
Doing it on the offensive front for the Bears was power slugger Lin Chih-sheng, whose 23-game hitting streak broke a 15-year-old record for rookies, set by former hitting artist and current Bear hitting coach Cheng Hsing-sheng (鄭幸生).
In the 16 games during the month of September, Lin belted 24 hits, six of which went over the fence for 24 total RBIs.
His rare display of power and finesse at the plate made him the most feared hitter among the pitchers in the league.
The 22-year-old who was born on New Year's Day has averaged nearly one RBI per game in the 45 contests that he has participated.
Except leading his team in total RBIs (44), Lin also has the best average (.297 with a minimum 100 at-bats), best on-base percentage (.359), and best slugging percentage (.520).
"I would like to thank my teammates and the coaches for believing in me," Cheng said.
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