Pirates make international splash by signing Taiwanese pitcher Po-Yu Chen

The Pittsburgh Pirates made a splash in the international market with the signing of Po-Yu Chen, a 19-year-old right-handed pitcher from Tawain’s world champion under-18 national team.

The 6-foot-2, 187-pound Chen is a former two-way player who is now focusing on pitching and has a low-90s fastball, slider and curveball in his repertoire. He pitched the final two innings for a save in the gold-medal game against the U.S. in the 2019 world championships. His father, Ping-Nan Chen, played in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

“Po-Yu Chen is an exciting young pitching prospect who has been a prominent part of the Taiwanese national program and in international competition,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said in a statement. “He has good size, moves well on the mound and has a quality pitch mix with the ability to keep getting better.”

Some videos I took of Taiwanese RHP Po-Yu Chen from his game vs. Panama today. Chen is considered a top Taiwanese pitching prospect eligible to be signed in 2020. Lots of ML scouts in the stands to watch him.

FB: 89~91, SL: 78~80, CU: 71~74, above avg command. Looks SP-ish. pic.twitter.com/ZUljPwbO7w

— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) August 30, 2019

The Pirates signed Chen for a $1.25 million bonus, according to a source, using additional international bonus pool acquired in several trades this season. They sent outfielder Jarrod Dyson to the Chicago White Sox for $243,000 in international bonus pool. They also traded a pair of minor-league pitchers, left-hander Domingo Robles to St. Louis and right-hander Conner Loeprich to Baltimore, for bonus pool money.

“We’ve scouted Po-Yu extensively and have received over 25 scouting reports over the last three years,” Cherington said. “In particular, our scout in Taiwan, Fu Chun Chiang, did a great job getting to know Po-Yu and his family and putting us in a position to sign him. I enjoyed meeting Po-Yu this week in Pittsburgh and we look forward to working with him in the years to come.”

Chen is the 48th international prospect signed by the Pirates in the 2019-20 signing period, including a handful ranked in the top 100 by Baseball America. They also signed Australian outfielder Solomon Maguire, whose $594,000 bonus was available through the trades of Corey Dickerson to the Philadelphia Phillies and Starling Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Pirates have a pool of $5,899,600 in 2020-21, when MLB teams will not be allowed to trade international bonus pool space.