2011 Indians Top 50 Prospects: #18 Chen-Chang Lee

Chen-Chang Lee – Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 10/21/1986 – Height: 5’11” – Weight: 175 – Bats: Right – Throws: Right

(Photo: Ken Carr)

History: Lee was signed by the Indians as an international free agent in September of 2008 out of Taiwan for a reported $400,000. He attended Taipei Physical Education College and pitched for the Taiwanese National team in the 2006 and 2008 World University Baseball Championships. He also pitched in the Asian Games and Intercontinental Cup for Taiwan in 2006, and in the summer of 2007 he pitched in the United States for the Anchorage Bucs of the Alaskan Baseball League. He was one of the top amateur college prospects from Taiwan, and was just one of three amateurs on the Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) team that competed in Beijing, China during the 2008 Olympics.

Strengths: Lee is a small framed reliever who throws from a low three quarters slot and has an advanced feel for pitching. He has a three pitch mix with a four-seam fastball that consistently sits at 91-94 MPH and has touched 95 MPH, and complements it with a slider and split changeup. He gets good movement on his fastball with good sink down in the zone. His slider is a plus offering and his go to pitch and shows good tilt and late bite that makes it very tough on right-handed hitters. His average split-changeup has shown some improvement and he gets some groundballs with it and uses mostly to attack left-handers. His ability to get strikeouts is impressive, and the Indians love his athleticism and the power to his stuff. He commands the zone well with his entire arsenal, and he gets good movement on all of his pitches.

The Indians sent Lee out to the Arizona Fall League in the offseason, and while his time was limited because of a minor arm injury, in 6 appearances he went 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA (6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 HR, 3 BB, 7 K). He is a very experienced minor league pitcher where - aside from pitching in the big leagues - he has pitched on every stage imaginable and performed well. It is very hard to make the adjustment into pro ball, and doubly tough when you have to make the adjustment to a new culture. Even with all the difficulties he has made a remarkable adjustment to pro ball and playing in the United States in such a short time.

Opportunities: Lee has little room for error with his low arm slot as when he is slightly off it will have a greater affect on his pitches than a pitcher with a higher slot, so he needs to continue to work on solidifying his arm slot. He has a tendency to drop his elbow and get underneath the ball, so he needs more work on staying on top of the ball better. He has good stuff, but he needs to know how to use it better and work on throwing inside more effectively. He is small and lacks much strength and missed some time last year due to an oblique strain, so durability could be a concern in the future. The Indians have challenged him to work on his strength and get stronger in order to help with his stamina and durability. He needs to refine the command of his secondary pitches to make them more effective, which will help play up his fastball a little more.

Outlook: Lee's season last year was really a tail of two halves. In the first half of the season he lacked much life on his fastball and it showed (4.56 ERA, .268 BAA), but the life returned in the second half and he was dominating (0.71 ERA, .115 BAA). For the second straight season he had over three times as many strikeouts as walks and averaged over a strikeout an inning. There are many around the game who think he may be the best relief prospect in the Indians system, and he certainly showed that in the second half of last season. He is definitely on the path to the big leagues and could be a bullpen option in Cleveland in middle relief by the end of this coming season. He should open the 2011 season at Triple-A Columbus, but depth in the relief corps in Cleveland and Columbus could push him down to Double-A Akron to start the year. Either way, he should pitch a majority of the season in Columbus.

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2009	22	Kinston	A+	4	6	3.35	45	2	83.1	67	31	5	28	97	.220	3.0	10.5	1.14
2010	23	Akron	AA	5	4	3.22	44	0	72.2	59	26	6	22	82	.219	2.7	10.2	1.12
		MiLB Totals		9	10	3.29	89	2	156.0	126	57	11	50	179	.220	2.9	10.3	1.13

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