Lin learning to harness his rocket arm
08:55 PM EDT on Thursday, July 21, 2011
By BRIAN MacPHERSON
Journal Sports Writer
PAWTUCKET - Che-Hsuan Lin possesses perhaps the strongest outfield arm in the
Red Sox system. When he was younger, he didn't think too much about what he
did with that arm.
"When I was younger, I didn't think that way," he said. "I didn't hit the
cutoff man. I would think just to throw as hard as I can, so I would make a
lot of throwing errors and didn't help the team. Now I'm getting better at
that."
As fast as Lin can run and as hard as he can throw, he's still learning the
finer points of playing center field at the Triple-A level. He sailed a throw
over the cutoff man in the eighth inning Wednesday, costing the PawSox a
chance to double up a runner who had rounded second base on a fly ball to
center field.
An inning later, though, he made a perfect throw to third base that, while it
didn't cut down the runner at third, allowed Hector Luna to make a relay
throw to Drew Sutton to nab the trailing runner at second.
"We all know he's got one of the best arms in the league, if not one of the
better arms in baseball," PawSox manager Arnie Beyeler said. "But it doesn't
play when the ball is 50 feet high. Guys just keep running. We've got to hit
the relay guys and let them help you out and keep balls down. He made the
adjustment on that last play, and it ended up helping us get out of an inning
by just making a fundamental play."
Said Lin, "I wanted to try to keep the ball down. I just wanted to hit the
cutoff man."
The 22-year-old speedster from Taiwan recorded 18 outfield assists at
Single-A Salem in 2009 and 15 more at Double-A Portland. Double-A opponents
didn't give him many chances to test his arm in April and May - he had just
three outfield assists in his first two months - and Triple-A runners appear
to have gotten the same memo. He has just four outfield assists so far with
the PawSox.
The latest was the key ninth-inning assist Wednesday. Lehigh Valley had
runners on first and second with one out in a game tied at 1-1 when Kevin
Frandsen lofted a fly ball to center field. Both runners - Brian Bocock at
second base, Rich Thompson at first - tagged up to advance.
Lin realistically had no chance to throw out Bocock at third base, but his
low throw in the vicinity of the cutoff man caused Thompson to hesitate on
his way to second. By the time Thompson got going again, Luna had relayed the
ball to Sutton for the out.
"He got behind the ball well and made a good, strong throw, but the key was
that he kept the ball down," Beyeler said. "The one before, when he went and
caught it, he just launched it in the air and tried to get it to first base,
and it ends up in never-never-land."
Lin has hit .268 with a .332 on-base percentage since his promotion to
Triple-A Pawtucket in late May. He drove in the game-winning run in the
bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday, but driving in runs doesn't tend to be
his game. He has hit 10 doubles and just one home run in more than 350 plate
appearances this season.
His future value to the Red Sox - or to another organization that might be
interested in dealing for him - will be come mostly from his ability to get
on base and his ability to play top-notch defense in the outfield.
The more he can refine his defensive skills - including the way he throws the
ball - the more valuable he'll be.
"It's just little stuff, fundamental stuff he needs to keep chipping away on
- the game awareness, the speed of the game," Beyeler said. "He asks
questions. He's very receptive. He's really improving."
http://www.projo.com/pawsox/content/PawSox_Che-Hsuan_Lin_0722.4a472b58.html
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 111.248.55.28