How to stay on Cards' prospect radar? Try tossing 6 hitless innings

At any level, it's hard to argue with six hitless innings.

That was exactly what the Double-A Springfield Cardinals received from Chen-Wei Lin on Friday against Wichita. Lin, the St. Louis Cardinals' No. 24 prospect, sprinkled three walks and a hit by pitch across his outing, but he struck out six in his best performance of the season to date.

If more proof is needed of just how dominant he was, the Wind Surge lineup clearly wasn't off its game entirely. Lin was pulled after completing his six masterful innings; two batters into the seventh, Wichita had a couple of runs on the board via a leadoff single and a home run.

Lin has been tremendously hard to square up during his career (just 10 homers allowed in 235 2/3 innings), and batters are hitting just .222 against him at the Double-A level this year.

At a long and leggy 6-foot-7, Lin has struggled mightily with his command throughout his career, issues that contributed to him dropping 11 spots on MLB Pipeline's Cardinals Top 30 prospects list from 2025, on which he ranked 13th. But outings like Friday's are quite the reminder of why he remains on St. Louis' radar.

The path Lin took to pro ball is also pretty cool, to say the least. The now-24-year-old, originally from Taiwan, played college ball at Chinese Culture University in Taipei. He began his American baseball career in the collegiate Northwoods League back in 2022; the Cardinals signed him out of the MLB Draft League in July 2023.

Now in his fourth Minor League season, Lin is sporting a 4.08 ERA in 13 games (10 starts) for Springfield, with 67 strikeouts and 35 walks in 53 innings.