Marlins Sign Pitcher Wei-Yin Chen to Five-Year Contract
The Miami Marlins today announced that they have signed starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen to a five-year contract covering the 2016-2020 seasons, with a vesting player option for 2021. The announcement was made by Marlins President of Baseball Operations Michael Hill.
"I am very excited about adding Wei-Yin Chen to our team and our rotation," said Marlins Owner Jeffrey Loria. "While he ranked among the best starters in the American League over the past few seasons, I truly believe his best is yet to come."
Chen, 30, posted career-best marks for ERA (3.34) and WHIP (1.22) in 31 starts for Baltimore last season. He ranked seventh among American League starting pitchers in ERA, fourth among left-handers. Over his final 28 starts of the season, Chen walked just 33 batters in 176.2 innings, ranking second among qualifying AL starters in walks per 9.0 innings (1.68) over that span. His 1.91 bb/9.0 rate since the 2014 All-Star break ranked sixth among all AL starters (min. 40 GS), while his 35 quality starts over the last two seasons ranked tied for seventh.
He will be the first Taiwanese player in Club history, and is one of just eight Taiwanese pitchers in MLB history. Chen's 46 career MLB wins rank second among his countrymen, behind only Chien-Ming Wang (62). Chen made his 100th career start last season, on June 26 vs. Cleveland, joining Wang (126) as the only Taiwanese pitchers to reach 100 MLB starts.
Chen signed with Baltimore as a non-drafted free agent prior to the 2012 campaign and made at least 31 starts in three of his four seasons with the Orioles. Prior to signing with Baltimore, he pitched parts of five seasons for the Chunichi Dragons (2005-11) in Nippon Professional Baseball, posting an ERA of 2.90 or lower in each of his four full seasons from 2008-11. In 2009, Chen led the Central League with a 1.54 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and four shutouts in 24 games (23 GS). He was a member of the Chinese Taipei national baseball team in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.