In recent weeks, Ben Cherington had made a series of moves to acquire additional capacity to their 2019-2020 international signing pool. The highest profile trade was sending Jarrod Dyson to the White Sox, but he also sent low-level prospects to the Cardinals and Orioles for their unused space.
On Wednesday, he used that extra room to get a guy that the Pirates had their eye on for a long time, signing 19-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Po-Yu Chen. A source tells DK Pittsburgh Sports that the deal is for $1.25 million.
How much homework have the Pirates done on this young right-hander? Try 25 scouting reports over three years.
"Po-Yu Chen is an exciting young pitching prospect who has been a prominent part of the Taiwanese national program and in International competition," Cherington said. "He has good size, moves well on the mound, and has a quality pitch mix with the ability to keep getting better.
"We’ve scouted Po-Yu extensively and have received over 25 scouting reports over the last three years. 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."
A source says that, internally, the Pirates grade his talent as roughly the same as a second-round draft pick.
The 6-foot-2, 187-pound right-hander was ranked by FanGraphs as the 22nd best international prospect during this period.
His fastball sits in the 90-92 mph range, though that could go up as he matures. FanGraphs praises his plus-changeup, and also note he has a "solid average curveball at times," and "starter traits."
In 2019, Sung Min Kim, a former FanGraphs writer who focused on the Asian baseball leagues, shot this video of Chen, noting there were many major-league scouts watching him that day:
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.
— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) August 30, 2019
FB: 89~91, SL: 78~80, CU: 71~74, above avg command. Looks SP-ish. pic.twitter.com/ZUljPwbO7w
Chen burst onto the international scene during the 2019 Under-18 Baseball World Cup, where he led Taiwan to the championship. He started two games against Panama and Korea and earned the save in the gold medal game, closing out the final two innings against the United States.
In addition to the Dyson trade, which allowed the Pirates to spend an additional $243,000 in the international market, the Pirates sent LHP Domingo Robles to the Cardinals and RHP Conner Loeprich to the Orioles on Sept. 20, acquiring more room. Specific amounts acquired in those deals is not known. Since those trades, the club also made three smaller international signings: RHP Eduardo Zapata, RHP Weslyn Toussaint and outfielder Juan Machado.
Chen is the 48th international free agent the Pirates have signed during the 2019-2020 signing period. It is also the most lucrative deal they signed anyone for during this period, surpassing right-hander Cristopher Cruz, who was inked for $850,000.
The signing period is set to end on Oct. 15, and the 2021 period will begin Jan. 15.