¡®Never give up¡¯: D-backs prospect nearing dream of representing Chinese Taipei in MLB
Casey Drottar
@CDrottar19Tom Gorzelanny didn¡¯t need to look to know something awful just happened.
The Double-A Amarillo pitching coach had spent 12 years in the Majors, so he¡¯d seen plenty of foul balls laced into his dugout. But he instantly knew the 96 mph shot Frisco¡¯s Abimelec Ortiz scorched toward his bench on April 26 was gravely different.
¡°I heard it,¡± Gorzelanny said. ¡°I didn¡¯t really move. I heard a different sound and I¡¯m like, ¡®Oh crap.¡¯¡±
Gorzelanny turned around to have his fears confirmed. The ball struck Taiwanese southpaw Yu-Min Lin -- ranked by MLB Pipeline as the D-backs¡¯ No. 7 prospect -- directly in the face, breaking his jaw. He suffered a concussion and required surgery to repair multiple fractures, an outcome which, all things considered, represented the best-case scenario.
¡°From where it hit him,¡± Gorzelanny said, ¡°a half an inch over, it could¡¯ve ended his career. It could¡¯ve ended his life.¡±
For Lin, it was another setback in a year when hope was replaced with frustration. He was eager to make it to the bigs as fast as possible, yet inconsistency was slowing him down. Adding a freak injury to the mix hardly helped the cause.
Not long ago, the moment may have been the final straw, a clear sign convincing Lin to leave the mound for good. Instead, it became a watershed moment. The 21-year-old came to America to chase a dream, and even a near-death experience wasn¡¯t going to stop his pursuit.
¡°Going to the Major Leagues is my big thing,¡± Lin said. ¡°But I know being a Taiwanese player in the Major Leagues, that's a different story. That's huge. ¡ So my mentality was, ¡®I don't want to give up. I want to get back to the mound as quickly as I can.¡¯ I kept telling myself, ¡®Never give up.¡¯¡±
Lin didn¡¯t always boast such steadfast dedication to baseball. He began playing at age 7, inspired by his older brother, Wei-Hao Chen, who went on to pitch in Taiwan¡¯s Chinese Professional Baseball League. As he grew up, hopes of being a position player were put aside after Lin earned rave reviews of his ¡°nasty¡± curveball.
Proof that pitching was the right call came quickly, with Lin eventually allowing just three runs in 10 innings while representing Chinese Taipei in the 2018 U-15 Baseball World Cup. One year later, he was helping guide his team to a gold medal in the U-18 tournament.
Though Lin shrugged off the significance of being so young on such a big stage -- ¡°I think they just needed a lefty,¡± he quipped -- his performance caught the eye of Ming-Tang Tsai, a coach for the baseball powerhouse Ku Pao Home Economics & Commercial High School. In Lin, Tsai saw a player whose enticing intangibles far outweighed his untraditionally small stature.
¡°When he was playing for U-15,¡± Tsai said via interpreter, ¡°his fastball was already hitting around 86 mph. His command was good, his ability was good, his mental strength was good. Even though he's one size smaller than the other players I¡¯ve seen, I knew that he was going to be something else.¡±
Lin had Tsai believing that stardom was in his near future. The southpaw had also convinced him as much despite wanting to ditch baseball. Lin was tempted to quit on two separate occasions as visions of dominating hitters no longer carried the same appeal as just living a normal life.
¡°I was tired of playing,¡± Lin said. ¡°In the summer, everybody's got vacations or is staying in their house playing video games, but I can¡¯t. I was so jealous. I wanted to give up.¡±
The struggle for motivation began impacting Lin¡¯s performance at Ku Pao. Tsai watched as his star left-hander lost his pitching motion. Lin¡¯s control wavered as higher pitch counts decreased his effectiveness. He found himself eyeing a permanent exit from the diamond, at least until Tsai pulled him aside and told him eight words that changed his entire future.
¡°You might be the best player in Taiwan.¡±
¡°I started thinking that God gave me such good talent,¡± Lin said, ¡°and you don¡¯t want to waste that talent for yourself.¡±
The moment turned out to be quite prophetic. Now refocused and determined to make the most of his abilities, Lin gained more attention after whiffing 14 in 8 2/3 innings during the 2021 U-23 World Cup. At age 18, he was fully embracing the idea of establishing a career in baseball.
Just not in the Majors, though. That, he felt, was implausible, so he instructed his agent to try to find him a contract in Japan.
His agent came back with both bad news and quite an update to soften the blow -- no Japanese clubs made any offers for Lin, but the Arizona Diamondbacks did. Hopes of hurling in the Japan Pacific League were suddenly replaced with the dream of taking the mound in the bigs.
Lin signed with the D-backs on Dec. 17, 2021, heading overseas to start his career in the Arizona Complex League the following summer. Acclimating to America was exciting at first, with any homesickness quelled by the joy of taking in new cuisine like Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out Burger. He soon found the urge to go back home could only be quieted for so long.
Those wistful feelings were amplified once Lin arrived at the D-backs¡¯ complex.
¡°I saw all my teammates, they were so huge,¡± Lin said. ¡°I was the only guy that was 5¡¯10. All the other guys were like 6¡¯3, 220 pounds. I was so nervous, like, ¡®How can I play baseball here? Everybody's bigger than me.¡¯¡±
Despite feeling out of place, Lin stayed focused on the task at hand. He knew how important his goal of pitching in the Majors was for his family and his community, and the significance of that continually calmed bouts of homesickness.
So, too, did the quickness with which his talent caught his coaches' attention.
¡°My first impression was it¡¯s an 18-year-old kid who knew how to pitch and had six different pitches,¡± said Gorzelanny, who worked with Lin in the ACL. ¡°That¡¯s something that's very rare with a kid that age, to be able to mix pitches and locate well.¡±
Lin soon proved he could match the hype his arsenal created.
He breezed through both the ACL and Single-A Visalia in just three months, allowing two earned runs or fewer in all but three of his 14 starts. Lin opened 2023 with High-A Hillsboro at age 19, over four years younger than his average competition. Less than three months later, he placed those same opposing hitters in the rearview as he made the jump to Double-A.
Lin¡¯s opponents may have been older and wiser, but that was about the only edge they had on him.
¡°It wasn't like he couldn't compete with these guys. He was dominating these guys,¡± said Gabriel Hernandez, Lin¡¯s pitching coach in Visalia and Hillsboro. ¡°A lot of those guys down in A-ball, they don't really know how to finish. He excelled there. For being so young, it¡¯s very unique.¡±
By season¡¯s end, Lin was already ranked by MLB Pipeline as Arizona¡¯s No. 13 prospect. No matter how well he was pitching, he never bristled at critique, instead quickly applying whatever coaching he received. His comfort in new surroundings had vastly increased thanks to the English lessons he was given the previous year from fellow Taiwanese prospect Lyle Lin.
After surging through four Minor League tiers in two seasons, Lin got a non-roster invite to D-backs Spring Training the following February. He was only two years removed from navigating a new country while longing for home and feeling dwarfed by teammates. Now he found himself working alongside established big leaguers like Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly.
Lin got the nod to start for the D-backs in the Spring Breakout, tossing two scoreless frames before getting knocked around in a third of an inning during his only other outing. His opportunity may have been brief, but it didn¡¯t matter. This was proof that a call to the bigs was fast approaching. He could feel it.
That expectation soon became a detrimental distraction. Lin¡¯s sights were set on the Majors instead of hitters he was facing after being reassigned to Double-A. His focus was inconsistent, and his results were quick to follow suit. Opponents were getting on base even when Lin felt he had his best stuff, and his frustration was apparent to anyone watching.
¡°I couldn¡¯t pitch well,¡± Lin said. ¡°I would start thinking, ¡®Dang, when are they going to call me up? Why won¡¯t they put me on the 40-man [roster]?¡¯ I would start getting down, because I would just lose my mind.¡±
Lin¡¯s negativity hit its peak after the April 26 foul ball that sent him to the emergency room. Just four starts into the year, he was nursing a surgically repaired jaw while staring at a 7.00 ERA.
When his family asked about the injury, Lin downplayed the severity. The last thing he wanted to do was send more bad news back home. At the same time, he realized wallowing in the face of adversity wasn¡¯t going to change that narrative. Lin¡¯s career -- and life -- was mere centimeters from being prematurely halted, and he was not about to waste his time feeling sorry for himself.
From the moment he was given medical clearance, Lin started throwing again. Just six weeks after the surgery, he made a rehab start in the ACL, where striking out nine of the 17 batters he faced was enough proof he was ready to return to Amarillo.
¡°He was back on the mound and ready to go like nothing had happened,¡± Gorzelanny said. ¡°He just said, ¡®This was a small setback. I¡¯m going to keep working, I¡¯m going to get myself back and keep progressing forward.¡¯¡±
Lin quickly lived up to that thinking. Gone was the pitcher who¡¯d let bad breaks sour a start. Replacing him was someone focused on nothing but keeping his emotions in check and getting the next batter out.
Lin wrapped his Double-A season by allowing three runs across eight innings in his final outing, posting a 3.54 ERA in 15 starts following his injury. But his year wasn¡¯t over just yet. His turnaround had caught the right people¡¯s attention, and his 2024 campaign was going to be capped with his Triple-A debut.
Taking the mound for Triple-A Reno on Sept. 21, Lin stared down his most seasoned competition yet and completely held it in check. He allowed one run and four hits -- all singles -- in 4 2/3 frames, despite the overwhelming feeling of being underestimated by Albuquerque¡¯s hitters.
¡°I think they knew me, what I¡¯ve got to pitch next and what spot I¡¯ve got to hit next,¡± Lin said. ¡°They made me feel like they are the monster, and I¡¯m the little cute cat and they¡¯re trying to eat me.¡±
It wasn¡¯t the last ferocious foe Lin silenced in 2024. He had another international appearance to make, one far more significant than those from his teenage years.
Representing Chinese Taipei in the Premier12 tournament, Lin was tabbed to start the Nov. 24 gold medal game against Samurai Japan, a juggernaut that was riding a 27-game winning streak. He was surrounded by a raucous Tokyo Dome crowd, carrying the hopes of an entire territory praying for a historic upset.
And he wasn¡¯t even slightly skittish.
¡°They're the best team in the world, but I'm not nervous at all,¡± Lin said. ¡°I know they are carrying a lot of burden on their shoulders, and I'm just the challenger. I'm the young pitcher, and I'm fearless.¡±
The result -- one infield single and three K¡¯s over four shutdown innings. Just seven months after inconsistency and a broken jaw put his confidence on the brink, Lin calmly kickstarted Chinese Taipei¡¯s first major international tournament win.
He returned home a hero, unable to walk the streets of Taiwan without a random passerby thanking him for the glory he helped deliver. A year that started with struggles and insecurity ended with Lin reaching celebrity status.
Yet, even after becoming a household name back home, there¡¯s still one achievement that remains unaccomplished. Making Taiwan proud in the Majors remains his sole objective, and with his season likely to open in Triple-A, he¡¯s never been closer to doing so.
Even if that¡¯s something he finds difficult to fathom.
¡°I never thought I could go to Major League Baseball,¡± Lin said. ¡°For me, it¡¯s on a different level. I still feel it's a dream and it's not real, [the idea of] me going to Major League Baseball.¡±
As far-fetched as it seems to Lin, his path has indeed brought him to MLB¡¯s doorstep, a true testament to everything he¡¯s overcome to get this far. He resisted early urges to call it quits. He¡¯s proven neither youth nor size could stop him from outshining opposing hitters. Lin has shaken off everything from crippling impatience to a near-career-ending injury to show he could topple even the most vaunted competition.
At only 21 years old, Lin is on the cusp of turning his dream into reality, and he¡¯s already left a wake full of proof he can handle whatever hurdles might remain in his path.
¡°I know that he's going to make it,¡± Tsai said. ¡°And when he makes it, it will prove that his hard work, his confidence and his ability to continue to improve himself helped him turn out to be great.¡±