Readers who have been following me for more a few years may remember my obsession with Tzu-Wei Lin. I super-collected him for a little while, starting shortly after his debut in 2017 and leading up to him leaving as a minor league free agent. I have been working on putting my Red Sox collection up on TCDB, starting with what I figured was an easy way in and starting with Tzu-Wei Lin. Not surprisingly, when checking my ranking among other people on the site, I come out way ahead. I may do a post with what all I have figured out on that site some day.
But anyway, today I am showing off a new acquisition for my Lin collection:
Apologies for the bad picture. This is the 2013 Bowman Chrome Prospects Pink Refractor. I recently found this on Ebay and decided I would grab it. I still need the black, gold, orange, red, super and yellow refractors from this set. That is quite a ways to go still.
Lin spent parts of four seasons with the Red Sox, never quite reaching the level of success he had in the minors. He had a promising start to his Major League career, hitting .268/.369/.339 in 25 games in 2017, playing mostly shortstop and third base. He had a bit of a longer look in 2018, but his hitting stats declined, though he did hit for a bit more power. Lin managed to hit his only Major League home run and traveled with the team during the postseason run. He was just an injury away from appearing in the postseason.
Unfortunately, things went downhill after that. His numbers in the minors declined and he got fewer opportunities in 2019. He played in just 13 games in the Majors that year, hitting just .200. Boston also started bringing in players like Marco Hernandez, who were also lefty-batting utility players. Nevertheless, he held on and was given a big opportunity when Brock Holt left after the 2019 season. Lin stayed in the Majors the entire COVID-shortened season, appearing in 26 games and becoming a true super-utility player. He played every position that season except first base and third base. He even caught and pitched. Unfortunately, his hitting tanked and he put up just a .154/.182/.173 line. The writing was on the wall.
Lin was not offered a contract after the season and he signed with the Twins as a minor league free agent. His final line in Boston was .223/.298/.316 with nine doubles, three triples, a home run, 27 runs scored, 12 RBIs and two stolen bases. He ended up appearing in just one game with the Twins, playing in left field for two innings without a plate appearance. To date, that was his last appearance in the Majors. He spent the 2022 season in the Mets system, but hit just .136 and was released in August. I do not know if he will get another chance.
Lin did appear in the World Baseball Classic for Chinese Taipei and homered in a game against Italy.
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