2011 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #20 Chun-Hsiu Chen

Chun-Hsiu Chen - Catcher
Born: 11/01/1988 – Height: 6’1” – Weight: 200 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right

(Photo: Tony Lastoria)

History: Chen was signed by the Indians as an undrafted minor league free agent in September of 2007 out of Taiwan. He was a third baseman and pitcher in Taiwan, but was converted to a catcher when he joined the organization. The Indians planned to have him play in the Arizona Fall League last year, but he ended up playing for Taiwan in the Asian Games instead. He was named to the Futures Game last season, and he finished 2nd in the organization in batting average (.315).

Strengths: After a promising pro debut as a 19-year old in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2008 where he hit .261/.336/.409, he really struggled at short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley in 2009 as he hit just .215/.328/.308. He bounced back last year with an incredible display of patience and gap power seemingly getting better and better as the year wore on, and showed why the Indians nabbed him as a high profile free agent out of Taiwan in September 2007. He is an offensive player who shows good bat-to-ball skills, power, and a very professional swing that has translated well to the wood bat. He has an uncanny knack to consistently square the ball up, and when he does the ball just jumps off his bat. He has always shown good plate discipline in his three year career with the Indians, but last year his power stroke emerged with 53 extra base hits - a whopping 38 of them doubles - in 390 at bats where he had just 16 extra base hits in 195 at bats the previous year at Mahoning Valley.  As he continues to mature and get stronger, he projects to have more power down the road and some of those doubles may start to turn into home runs. He is very coachable and makes adjustments well.

One of the bigger stories of last season was the return of Chen's impressive stroke and approach at the plate. Some in the organization believe that his bat took a backseat in 2009 while he tried to answer the challenges at catcher to improve his receiving, blocking, and calling games. But his success as a hitter last year also stems from a small adjustment he made with his swing where he abandoned the traditional high leg kick and a lot of hand movement you see from a lot of players in the Pacific Rim to a much calmer stride with a more traditional setup without the leg kick, less hand movement, and a shorter path to the ball so he could better handle off-speed pitches. He was sort of caught in between the two approaches in 2009, hence the rough year, but last season he made the full conversion by dropping the leg kick and eliminating a lot of movement in his stance and his offense blossomed as a result.

The biggest question mark with Chen is his defense. He is an average receiver with good leadership qualities, is a good blocker, moves well, and his throwing is improving. He and Roberto Perez split playing time at Low-A Lake County the first few months of the season to help ease their transitions into catching a full season - something the Indians are likely to do with Alex Lavisky and Alex Monsalve at Lake County this year. Over the course of the season he made a lot of strides with his receiving, blocking, and throwing, and the Indians feel he exceeded their expectations with his advances in his communication with pitchers in English and Spanish and how comfortable he was catching as frequently as he did. He has also shown some intelligence behind the plate picking up tendencies from the hitters and reading swings. He still has a long way to go, but the Indians believe he can remain in the role for the foreseeable future and that he just needs experience and playing time in order to
continue to grow behind the plate.

Opportunities: The defensive reviews on Chen are mixed, and he still has a long way to go to be a serviceable major league catcher. He is still raw and picking up all of the nuances to the game as a catcher, his game calling and blocking need improvement, and he needs to get quicker and more consistent with his throwing. He has made incredible strides with his English and adapting to the American culture, but even though he has a good understanding of the English language his vocabulary is still very limited and he has trouble expressing to those who speak English and Spanish what he wants to say. At the plate he is continuing to work on simplifying his approach as he tends to think too much. His pitch recognition skills need work as he has shown a problem with recognizing curveballs and other offspeed pitches. He has made improvements in this area, but he needs to get better with his understanding on how to approach and attack them.

Outlook: Chen went from an up-and-comer in 2009 to a forgotten guy by many outside of the organization going into last season because of his poor season in 2009 at Mahoning Valley. He came back with a bang last year and even exceeded the expectations of the Indians with both his hitting and defense. Things will start to get a lot tougher now that he will be entering the higher levels of the minors, but the Indians look like they have the makings of a solid offensive-minded catcher. He has the tools to hit and be an average defensive catcher, and if catching does not work out for him or a need arises elsewhere he could someday move to first base where his bat would still play. His future looks to be that of a Max Ramirez-type of payer, and he should open the 2011 season at Double-A Akron.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	19	GCL Indians	R	38	115	11	30	4	2	3	15	13	29	1	.261	.336	.409	.745
2009	20	Mahoning Valley	A-	59	195	24	42	15	0	1	19	31	42	9	.215	.328	.308	.636
2010	21	Lake County	A	58	218	27	68	21	3	6	39	17	38	1	.312	.368	.518	.886
2010	21	Kinston	A+	52	172	31	55	17	0	6	30	38	36	4	.320	.442	.523	.965
		MiLB Totals		207	700	93	195	57	5	16	103	99	145	15	.279	.371	.443	.814

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