BASEBALL / Uni-Lions veteran Chen Yung-chi to retire after 2026 CPBL season

Taipei, Jan. 16 (CNA) Ten-time Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) All-Star Chen Yung-chi (陳鏞基) has decided to call it quits after the 2026 season with the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions.

"This year will be my last season," the veteran infielder said at a media event held in Taipei on Friday.

Chen said while he first considered hanging up his bat about three years ago, he made the decision after discussions with his family and those around him following the end of the 2025 season.

In 2022, Chen played only 52 games -- the fewest in his career -- while batting .234, his lowest mark aside from a .201 average in 2021.

"My performance was particularly bad at that time, and I was unable to show the results of my preparation despite maintaining my weight training and batting practice," Chen recalled. "But I wanted to show everyone a brighter side of me, and I would have felt regretful if I had retired that way."

Chen bounced back in 2023, batting .336 -- his second-highest average in the CPBL -- in 86 games.

Set to turn 43 in July, Chen signed with the Seattle Mariners in 2004 and began his professional career in the United States.

He also played for the Oakland Athletics and the Pittsburgh Pirates and reached as high as Triple-A in the minor leagues before joining the Uni-Lions as the overall first pick in the 2010 midseason draft.

Also present on Friday was Major League Baseball scout Jamey Storvick, who signed Chen for the Mariners in 2004, a signing that Chen said was "the most important in [his] life."

Storvick said Chen's swing in high school reminded him of Ken Griffey Jr., prompting him to keep tabs on the Taiwanese player and sign him as a sophomore, whom he described as "Taiwan's Derek Jeter."

Expressing regret that injuries plagued Chen after he reached Triple-A, Storvick said Chen would definitely have been called up to the major leagues had he stayed healthy.

Holding the franchise record for most home runs with 136, Chen said he is eyeing 140 and hopes to keep the record for as long as possible. He hit five home runs in each of the past three seasons.

Storvick, meanwhile, urged Chen to dream bigger. "Make it 150," he said.