RHP M-T Chen Getting Looks From the M's
Written by Jay Yencich   
Friday, 05 March 2010 15:29
I’ve been sitting on this for a few days because I wasn’t sure if it would develop any more, but in the interest of talking up some other international signings possibly in the works, it’s come to my attention that the Mariners are one of eight teams currently looking at Taiwanese right-hander Min-tzu Chen.

Chen, who turned twenty in December, is currently playing for Taiwan PE University. What makes him a bit different from other prospects you typically see coming out of the area is that Chen has only been pitching for about three months now. In the past, he was an outfielder, with speed as his best tool by a wide margin. As is typically the case, that didn’t garner a lot of interest from other teams, and tryout in Los Angeles in late 2008 yielded nothing. Switching to the mound seems to have been a bit of a boon for him, and he’s presently throwing in the low 90s, with an accompanying change, curve, and slider. These secondary offerings, however, are just as raw as his mechanics, which reflect a guy who only recently started throwing from the mound. I’ve been trying to track down any available videos of him, but have had no luck finding any so far, even when I’ve been searching using Chinese characters.

The M’s sent their Pac Rim guy, Pat Kelly (previously the head Australia scout), to go watch him in a tryout. Right now, the M’s aren’t exactly the favorites to pick him up. The Royals sent their international scouting director over to Taiwan to check him out, and the Padres are not far behind in their own pursuits. Both have already made contract offers in the $150-200k range, a testament to his arm strength, but he’s probably not going a whole lot more than that. More polished pitchers tend to get something in the half million range, and I don’t see Chen getting that kind of offer right now.

Hat tip to the Taiwan Baseball blog for nearly all the info you find above. TTT does good work over there.

No further updates on dePaula as of yet.


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