The Seattle Mariners officially signed Taiwanese right-handed pitcher Lin Po-Chun on Monday. According to Francys Romero on X, the 18-year-old agreed to a $450,000 signing bonus.
Lin is the first player born in Taiwan to sign during this year’s international signing period, which began last Wednesday, January 15. Although he does not appear on MLB Pipeline’s top 50 international prospect rankings for 2025, he made headlines by representing Taiwan at the U-18 Baseball World Cup in 2022 and 2023 and the 2024 U-18 Asian Baseball Championship.
In 8.1 combined innings between the 2022 and 2023 U-18 Baseball World Cup, Lin gave up just three hits and no earned runs. He struck out half of the 26 batters he faced.
This past September, Lin was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2024 U-18 Asian Baseball Championship. In the championship game against Japan, Lin threw 4.1 scoreless innings, allowing five hits but striking out four. Chinese Taipei defeated Japan 6-1 and finished the tournament 5-1. Their only loss was two days earlier in a 1-0 defeat against Japan.
Lin throws a four-seam fastball that can reach 95 mph, and his secondary pitches are a splitter, slider, and changeup. According to Focus Taiwan, Lin once mentioned he had developed a fearless demeanor on the mound playing in multiple international tournaments.
Lin is the second Taiwanese pitcher the Mariners signed in under a year. Last July, the club signed 20-year-old right-handed pitcher Shen Chia-Shi. Shen was assigned to the Dominican Summer League Mariners but did not appear for the team in 2024.
The last Taiwanese player to debut in Major League Baseball was San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Kai-Wei Teng in 2024. Teng posted a 9.82 ERA in 11 innings, a small sample size.
The international signing period began last Wednesday and ends on December 15, 2025. Players must be 16 and turn 17 before September 1, 2026, to sign. Any international free agents under 25 are eligible to negotiate with MLB clubs.
Photo Credit: WBSC.org
