Tzu-Wei Lin

Tzu-Wei Lin (born February 15, 1994), is a Taiwanese baseball infielder for the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).

He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins.

Listed at 5 ft and 155 lbs, Lin bats left-handed and throws right-handed.

Scouts view Lin as a capable fielder with an average throwing arm.

He is seen as a fast runner and good hitter who could bat .300, though not with much power.

He is also known as a patient hitter, foul-tipping pitches often to extend his at bats.

Lin led Taiwan's team to victory in the Junior League World Series in 2010.

He played in the 2010 World Junior Baseball Championship, in which Taiwan won the championship.

He led all players in the tournament in batting average (.607), on-base percentage (.656), and slugging percentage (.907).

For his efforts, Lin was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, best hitter, and to the All-Tournament Team as a third baseman.

Lin agreed to sign a contract with the New York Yankees in 2010, when he was 16 years old, for a signing bonus of $350,000.

Though Lin was eligible to sign at the time, the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association threatened to ban Lin from playing or coaching in Taiwan if he signed before completing high school, leading Lin not to complete the deal.

In the 2011 World Youth Baseball Championship, Lin was named best outfielder of the tournament as he played mostly in left field.

He also had a catchy nickname, "The Tzunami", because he would destroy opponents like a tsunami does to objects.

In 2012, Lin agreed to sign a contract with the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees' rivals, receiving a $2.05 million signing bonus, the largest bonus for a Taiwanese position player, the second largest bonus for a Taiwanese player behind Chin-Hui Tsao, and the third largest bonus for an Asian amateur after Tsao and Byung-hyun Kim.

Lin spent the 2012 season with the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Red Sox, batting .255 with no home runs and 16 RBIs in 29 games.

With the Class A Short-Season Lowell Spinners in 2013, he batted .226 with one home run and 20 RBIs in 60 games.

Lin played for the Class A Greenville Drive in 2014, batting .229 with one home run and 42 RBIs in 102 games.

During 2015, Lin split time between the Class A-Advanced Salem Red Sox and the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs, playing in a total of 119 games while batting .251 with two home runs and 48 RBIs.

He then spent the 2016 season with Double-A Portland, batting .223 with two home runs and 27 RBIs in 108 games.

Early in the 2017 season, Lin appeared in 48 games with Double-A Portland, batting .302 with five home runs and 19 RBIs in 48 games.

The Red Sox promoted Lin to the major leagues on June 24, 2017, directly calling him up from Double-A.

He made his MLB debut that day, as a pinch runner.

He recorded his first major league hit during his first major league at bat on June 26, in a 4–1 victory against the Minnesota Twins.

After initially wearing uniform number 73 for Boston, he switched to number 5 on July 14.

On July 20, Lin was optioned to the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox after Brock Holt returned from injury.

During his time in Pawtucket, Lin appeared in 35 games, batting .227 with two home runs and nine RBIs.

He was later recalled to Boston in September.

Overall with the 2017 Red Sox, Lin appeared in 25 MLB games, batting 15-for-56 (.268) with no home runs and two RBIs; defensively, he played ten games at second base, six games at shortstop, and nine games at third base.

Lin was not included on Boston's postseason roster for the 2017 American League Division Series.

Lin started the 2018 season with Triple-A Pawtucket.

He was called up to Boston on April 10, made 14 appearances while batting 6-for-32 (.188), and was optioned back to Pawtucket on May 8.

After being sent back to Pawtucket, he had a 16-game hitting streak and raised his Triple-A average to .299 for the season.

Lin was recalled to Boston on June 23, and sent back to Pawtucket on June 29; he appeared in two games (one start) and batted 0-for-5 during his week with the Red Sox.

He was recalled again on July 12, appeared in three games (batting 2-for-7), and was optioned back to Triple-A on July 24.

He was recalled by the Red Sox on July 29, made one defensive appearance, and was returned to Pawtucket on July 31.

Lin was called up to Boston on September 1, when rosters expanded.

Lin played for the Chinese Taipei national baseball team in the 2019 Asian Baseball Championship, appearing at second base, shortstop, and left field, as the team won its first title in 18 years.

He was named to the national team roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Also in 2023, Cheng appeared in the postponed 2022 Asian Games, competing in five baseball games with four starts, batting .091/.182/.231 in 11 at-bats, and winning a silver medal with Chinese Taipei.