Tzu-Wei Lin

Koufax

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Well I tried this two years ago and posted a completely inaccurate summary of his year-to-date, so I'll stick to a couple of actual facts this time (with apologies for my butchered attempt in 2015).

Mr. Lin is currently in Portland, where his OPS is .982. He's repeating at Portland, where his performance in 2016 was nothing special. I don't know what his defense looks like, but a good bat (if it is real) is a rare item in the organization these days and may be worth watching.
 

Cesar Crespo

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It's actually his 3rd year in Portland. Good news is he just turned 23 so he's not too old to be a prospect. The increased power is something to keep an eye on if it sticks. He's also played a couple games in CF this year after playing a few games there last year as well.

edit: He's also been on the 7 day DL since 5/7 so he should be returning soon.
 
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Koufax

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Back from the DL on 5/19, he's gone 2 for 7 in the three games back. His slash is 338 .420 .532
 

oumbi

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This is the SoxProspects report on Lin:

Scouting Report: Defensive-minded shortstop with an excellent glove, great range, and a strong arm. Small frame with limited projection. Quick-twitch athlete. Plus-to-better speed with fringe-average contact and poor present power. Slap hitter. Sound fundamentals with an advanced approach for his age, but has room to improve pitch recognition. Quick out of the box. Works counts well. Swing is short and direct to the ball. Potential solid-average-to-plus hit tool, but power potential is very limited. Received largest bonus ever for an amateur position player from Taiwan. Pursued by Yankees in earlier years. Ceiling of a starting shortop, but has long-odds to reach that ceiling. Profiles better as defensive backup. Began seeing time at second base, third base, and even center field in 2016 as he began to be developed as for a possible utility role in the majors, but is still primarily a shortstop. Participated in 2012, 2013, and 2016 Fall Instructional League.

Based upon this, he seems to be projected as being a classic "good glove, noodle bat" shortstop. If this improved hitting is real and continues, then the Sox may have a real prospect.
 

Koufax

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hitting for the year at 0.309 / 0.396 / 0.464.
For May the numbers are 0.271 / 0.386 / 0.313, so tailing off.
 
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oumbi

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Lin is now ranked 42nd on the Soxprospects page.

Hitting .301 with a slash line of 0.385 0.447 0.831 for the season.
 

Koufax

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Today he had 1 HR, 2 2B and 2 BB. After today's performance his OPS is .885 built upon a slash line of .306 .398 .486.
 

Cesar Crespo

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He is 1/23 with 3bb/4k over his last 5 games.
Extend it even further out, and over his last 26 games and 100 PA, he is slashing .214/.313/.298 and 5xbh with 13bb/12k on a .233 BAbip. He had only 2 xbh (both doubles) in 61 PA in May. In June, he has 4 doubles and a HR in 59 PA. His June line is .223/.310/.369 on a .233 BAbip. If you want to be positive, you can hope the injury caused his lack of power in May and it's just now starting to come back. His batted ball profile still looks very different from last year but that gap is closing in the more PA he gets. He is also walking more and striking out more than ever before so maybe there is some real change in there. Maybe it was just a really hot April.

For reference, Lin's career slash line is .239/.313/.316 over 1944 PA.
 

Cesar Crespo

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He must have read this post. He is currently 5/5 with a double, triple and a SB in today's game bringing his slash line back up to .299/.379/.461 for the year. Prior to today's game, he was hitting .275/.360/.423.

Brings his June line up to a very nice .291/.365/.481. That gives him 7 xbh in 65 PA this month.

That is now 15xbh in 179 PA, after having 17 in 411 last year and 25 in 501 PA in 2015.
 

Koufax

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Captain's log, June 30, 2017: Tzu-Wei Lin has left Planet Portland on an expeditionary mission, going where no Taiwanese has ever gone before: Fenway Park, where he is kicking ass with an OPS of .800. Last night's triple was nearly a home run (and nearly caught). He has displayed speed and infield skills and versatility. Borg Queen Panda will surely come and expel Lin from Planet Fenway, but Lin has comported himself well there and may in doing so have earned a promotion to Pawtucket, where he will be a shorter drive from Fenway once Borg Queen Panda is finally expelled as an unwanted alien.
 

oumbi

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An update since with the departure of Marrero from the big league club, Lin probably becomes the first call up in case of injury in the Red Soc infield. In his first two games for Pawtucket, Lin has played 3B and SS. His sss stats are:

AB 6
Hits 3
BB 2
SO 2
BA .500
OBP .625
SLG .500
OPS 1.125

No stolen bases as of yet.