For First Career Start as No. 4 Batter, Chen Chieh-Hsien Thanks Reporters for the Suggestion

(CNA, Taipei, 7th) Chen Chieh-Hsien, captain of the Chinese Professional Baseball League's Uni-President 7-ELEVEn Lions, had a stellar performance as a substitute No. 4 batter yesterday and was officially promoted to the role today, marking his first career start in the cleanup spot. The reason stemmed from data presented by the media to the head coach, prompting him to joke, "Thanks to my reporter friends for the suggestion."

Yesterday, Chen entered the game in the 4th inning as a pinch runner and subsequently went 3-for-3 with 4 RBIs. This performance boosted his career stats in the No. 4 spot to 5 hits in 6 at-bats with 8 RBIs, for a remarkable .833 batting average, though all previous appearances were as a substitute.

After the media highlighted Chen's high batting average in the cleanup role after yesterday's game, Lions' head coach Lin Yueh-Ping decided to place him as the starting No. 4 batter today. Lin said, "This is our home field, it's his time to shine. Putting him at No. 4 and as the designated hitter also reduces his burden."

"Thanks to my reporter friends, I get to start at cleanup for the first time in my career," Chen said in an interview today. He mentioned that when the lineup was announced, he saw his teammates looking at him, and that hitting fourth felt good. "With our current team structure, it's the same no matter who hits fourth. The most exciting No. 4 batter in recent years is definitely (Lin) An-Ko."

Chen believes the batting order won't affect his offensive mindset. Although he has hit fourth during his student years, he feels his style is better suited for the top three spots. "I'm the type who gets on base and has a good eye for pitches. I'll just give it a try with today's lineup. Whether it goes well or not doesn't matter to me, because it wasn't originally my position anyway." (Editor: Kuan Chung-Wei) 1150607