SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Chen-Wei Lin’s final pitch in his second Arizona Fall League start Friday might have been his most surprising, his best and the most indicative of how he could find future success on the mound.
Up 0-2 against Top 100 prospect and left-handed hitter Blake Mitchell (KC No. 2/MLB No. 62) in the fourth inning, the 6-foot-7 right-hander dropped in an 85.1 mph splitter right on the outside edge of the zone. Initially called a ball, the pitch was challenged by Glendale catcher Jesus Galiz, and even before the call was shown on the videoboard, Mitchell -- a fellow backstop who understands the zone -- knew his fate and started walking back to the dugout. An overturned strike three call.
More on the Arizona Fall League:
The Cardinals’ No. 16 prospect exited after fanning five over 3⅔ scoreless innings in an eventual 10-1 win over Surprise at Surprise Stadium. Lin allowed only one hit, but perhaps more importantly, did not walk a single batter. He threw 31 of his 37 pitches for strikes. For a pitcher who issued 39 free passes in 50⅓ innings across three levels (mostly High-A and Double-A) during the summer, the gem was the culmination of an intense focus on control.
“With my left hand, I did a little bit of an adjustment, so I can have more consistency when I’m pitching,” Lin said. “That helped a lot today. … The pitching coaches Lance [Carter] and Jacob [Dorris were] talking about my left arm was open too early and extending a little bit.”
By focusing on that cue, Lin was able to post zeros for a second straight fall appearance, having thrown two scoreless frames in his debut on Oct. 9. But even in that first outing, he issued three walks over nine batters faced, making the latest gem another promising step forward.
While the splitter -- a low-spin pitch he added late last year to play alongside his changeup -- brought a wow factor in the fourth, Lin went heavy with his four-seam fastball through much of the outing, throwing it on 29 of his 37 total pitches. With his long frame, the Taiwan native can get right on top of batters with upward of 7 feet of extension, shortening up the decision window for batters. It’s already pretty small with velocity in the 94-96 mph range, touching 98.2 as Lin did Friday. Ten of his 29 heaters (34.5 percent) landed for called strikes or whiffs.
More from MLB Pipeline:
• Top 100 prospects | Stats | Video | Podcast | Complete coverage
That, in turn, helped his 82-85 mph slider play up. The breaking ball often comes with armside movement, rather than traditional gloveside, but it can still befuddle hitters. Three of four swings against Lin’s sliders were empty ones Friday.
“A goal for the Fall League has been to throw the slider a little bit harder,” Lin said. “Not care about movement, just try to throw it harder and get more consistency out of it. … Our coordinators say if you throw the slider, your stuff will be way better.”
In many ways, Lin is the perfect Fall League candidate. He was limited to 50⅓ innings after missing the start of the season with a forearm issue, and he was out for a month with High-A Peoria across July and August with a left oblique injury.
That put the brakes on what had been an ascendant career. He was signed by the Cardinals for $500,000 in July 2023 after stateside stints in the Northwoods (2022) and MLB Draft Leagues (2023) with St. Louis hoping it could harness his high-octane stuff from a very projectable, tall frame. Last season’s time with Single-A Palm Beach marked a breakout with a 2.79 ERA, 123 strikeouts and only 36 walks in 116 innings before the injuries and upper levels proved to be tougher tests.
As Friday showed, Lin is still malleable as a prospect and capable of surprises as he works to continue his early Fall League scoreless streak. That’s just how he wants it.
“Right now, I think I know more what I’m doing,” Lin said. “Every day, I have a goal, have something to do, something to work on. I think that’s the biggest difference between now and before I signed.”