There have been plenty of rumours circulating about the Chinatrust Brothers’ 林威助 (Lin Wei-Chu) retirement since the beginning of this season, as the 38 years old veteran spent majority of the 2017 season in the farm team, despite hitting .411/.470/.667 over 30 games.
Today via the press release, the aging outfielder have announced his retirement after 15 years of professional baseball. The upcoming farm league championship series will be Lin’s final series as a professional player.
NPB – The Hanshin Tigers (2003-2013)
Lin went through the Japanese education system and participated in 2002 NPB draft. With his potential and the pure raw power his displayed back in high school and university, Lin was drafted in the first round by the Hanshin Tigers. Throughout his 11 years of the NPB career, Lin posted a combined record of .264/.298/.414.
Due to pre-existing shoulder and knee injuries, Lin was mostly used as a pinch hitter during his time with the Tigers. However, when he is healthy enough to play a full season he was able to put out solid number, in 2007 season Lin posted .292/.321/.455 with 15 HR.
CPBL – The Chinatrust Brothers (2014-2017)
Lin returned to CPBL and was drafted in the third round by the Chinatrust Brothers in 2013. Despite the knee injury which caused him to missed half of the 2014 season, Lin was able to stay mostly healthy and play consistently in 2015 and 2016 season. In 3 seasons he posted a combined record of .291/.345/.402.
In 2017, with the Brothers management leaning heavily on using younger players and the case of overflowing of the outfield talents. Lin’s top team game time was cut significantly from 95 games in 2016 to merely seven games in 2017.
What is Next For Lin Wei-Chu?
A few days before the retirement announcement. Lin met with the Brothers’ general manager to discussed his role within the organisation going forward. The organisation originally planned to have a retirement ceremony for Lin, but the idea was rejected.
According to Brothers GM, there’s talks of Lin becoming a coach for Brothers, but nothing is set in stone yet.