Taiwan Hitter Signed By Dodgers

Outfielder Chen Chin-Feng, a member of the Taiwan national team and a power hitter with speed, was signed to a minor-league contract Tuesday by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

If Chen, 21, makes the Dodgers, he would be the first Taiwan-born player in the major leagues. In 1975, Taiwan's Tan Hsin-min played briefly in San Francisco's farm system.

The Dodgers had six players from the Dominican Republic, two from Mexico and one each from South Korea and Venezuela at the end of the 1998 season, after trading Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo to the New York Mets in mid-season.

Chen reportedly signed A seven-year, $600,000 contract -- four times what he had been promised by the scandal-marred Taiwan Major League.

Chen starred in the world championships in Italy last year, setting a record with home runs in four consecutive games. Then in December he hit another homer off South Korea's Chan Ho Park, a starting pitcher for Los Angeles, while batting .444 in the Asian Games at Bangkok.

"We were impressed by his athletic talent and his ability to hit with power, and this will allow him to have the opportunity to compete at a major-league level," said Jack Zduriencik, director of international scouting for the Dodgers, who was with Chen Tuesday at a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan, to announce the signing.

"I will do everything I can to make a major contribution to the Dodgers," Chen said.

"The signing of chen displays our continued commitment to expanding baseball internationally and spreading goodwill across the globe," Dodgers president Bob Graziano said.

Before entering the military for two years of compulsory service, Chen had agreed to join the Taiwan Major League, but the offer from the Dodgers was too good to refuse.

The Taiwan league has been marred by gambling scandals, with several star players arrested for throwing games.

The Dodgers were the first major-league team to play in Taiwan, in a three-game 1993 series again Taiwanese all-star teams. In the past three years, the Dodgers have had a strong relationship with the Sinon Bulls of Taiwan's Chinese Professional League. That team trained at a Dodgers facility in the Dominican Republic in 1997 and 1998, and this year will spend one week at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla.

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