Pitcher Chen Wei-yin, the highest paid Taiwanese player ever in the MLB, yesterday announced his retirement from the game following a decorated professional career in the US and Japan.
In a lengthy Facebook post that in a way typified the attention to detail and professionalism he showed in the sport, the 39-year-old southpaw wrote that he was bidding farewell to a career spanning 20 years after realizing he could no longer perform at a high level.
“As a professional player, pain and fatigue have never been the hardest things to deal with. The real challenge is honestly facing up to no longer being at one’s peak,” Chen wrote.
Photo: CNA
“After countless internal struggles, I told my wife: ‘My body has reached its limit. I think it’s time for me to retire,’” he added.
He expressed his gratitude to his family, friends and fans for supporting him during his career and thanked all the teams he played for during his Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and MLB days.
“I have fought a good fight and I thank everyone who was with me on my journey,” he said, adding that he gave his best in every game he pitched.
He also thanked baseball for giving a child from Kaohsiung the opportunity to play on the world stage and fulfill his dream.
“Goodbye, my pitcher’s mound,” he wrote.
Chen said he would take to the mound for the last time on March 16 at Vantelin Dome Nagoya, the home stadium of the NPB’s Chunichi Dragons, where he began his professional career.
The Dragons have announced that Chen would throw out the ceremonial first pitch before an exhibition game leading into the upcoming season.
Born on July 21, 1985, Chen signed with the Dragons in 2003 before making his NPB debut in 2005.
He became an ace starter for the Nagoya team and left with a 37-33 record and 2.6 ERA over seven seasons before being signing to the MLB’s Baltimore Orioles.
The historic deal made him the first Taiwan-born player to sign with a major league team out of the NPB.
Chen made his MLB debut on April 10, 2012, as a starting pitcher for the Orioles against the New York Yankees, making him the seventh Taiwanese to make it to the big leagues.
From there, he played four seasons with the team, before signing a US$80 million five-year contract with the Miami Marlins in 2016, the largest guaranteed contract for a pitcher in Marlins franchise history.
However, his time with the Marlins was plagued by injuries. After starting in 53 of the 57 games he appeared in for Miami from 2016 to 2018, he worked exclusively in relief in his final MLB season in 2019.
In his four seasons with the Marlins, he had a 13-19 record and a 5.10 ERA, but for his MLB career, he had a 59-51 record and a 4.18 ERA in 219 games (170 as starter).
His 59 wins in the big leagues are the second-most of any Taiwanese pitcher, behind only former New York Yankees star Wang Chien-ming, who had 68 career wins.
Chen’s 1,064.2 innings pitched and 170 starts during his MLB career are the most among Taiwan-born players in the major leagues.
Unlike Wang, whose success was closely linked to his signature pitch — a bowling-ball-like sinker — Chen relied on a full arsenal of pitches, including a four-seam fastball that topped out at 95-96mph, and a disciplined command of the strike zone.
After his MLB career, Chen returned to the NPB and played for the Chiba Lotte Marines and Hanshin Tigers from 2020 to 2022, but only appeared in 19 games during that time.
He sat out 2023 before trying to revive his career last year with the New York-based Long Island Ducks in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent “partner league” of the MLB.
He started 17 games and had a 6.37 ERA.
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