2023 Vancouver Canadians catcher Lyle Lin gets behind the plate in this episode of C’s Chat.
Lin grew up playing baseball in Taipei, Taiwan as a third-grader before moving to the U.S. at the age of 15, joining his older sister Anny Lin who attended UC Santa Barbara. According to AZCentral.com, he only knew how to say “My name is Lyle, I’m 15 and I’m from Taiwan,” in English prior to his arrival. Lin was able to learn the language as he attended JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, California. He helped the Lions win three straight Trinity League titles from 2014 to 2016, hitting .316 with three home runs in his senior season. That performance gave Lin a 2016 Rawlings-Perfect Game Honourable Mention All-American and he was a Perfect Game‘s California All-Region Second Team selection.
History was made when Lin was the first Taiwanese-born player to be selected in the MLB Draft, going to the Seattle Mariners in the 14th round of 2016. He decided to go to Arizona State University instead. In his freshman 2017 campaign, Lin batted. 290 with two home runs among 12 extra-base hits. The season highlight was a 3-for-6 effort with two RBI to help the Sun Devils take down number-one-ranked TCU on February 24. The season ended with Lin getting an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention. He signed up for a summer stint with Bourne in the Cape Cod League where he batted. 283 with 19 runs batted in.
The 2018 season saw Lin improve his batting average to .312 with another two homers among 18 extra-base knocks thanks to a 15-game hitting streak to start the year. He returned to Bourne for a second straight year where he hit .253 with a home run and 16 RBI.
Lin’s name was called again in the MLB Draft as the Houston Astros took him in the 29th round in 2018 but he opted to return to Tempe for 2019. The catcher/first baseman slugged a career-best. 457 as he left the yard nine times with 46 RBI, earning a first-team selection on the All-Pac-12 team. The Arizona Diamondbacks would take Lin in the 14th round and this time, he decided to turn pro and received a $125,000 signing bonus.
Lin made his professional debut in 2019 with the Hillsboro Hops on June 26 and got a single in his second at-bat against Salem Keizer. His first game at Nat Bailey Stadium was on Canada Day and he had two hits, a walk and his first professional run scored. He reached base two more times against the C’s with a knock and a walk on July 2. The highlight of the year for Lin was scoring the winning run and catching the final out on a strikeout as the Hops defeated the Tri-City Dust Devils in the fifth and deciding game of the Northwest League championship. That capped off a postseason in which he hit .308.
After COVID cancelled the 2020 season for the minor leagues, Lin played for Low-A Visalia and Double-A Amarillo in 2021. With the Rawhide, he rode a three-game hitting streak and hits in six of his first eight contests to start the year. Lin was then promoted to Amarillo in August and picked up his first home run as a professional in his second plate appearance with the Sod Poodles with a two-run shot.
In 2022, Lin was back in Hillsboro at the High-A level with the Hops having been a short-season club in his rookie season three years earlier. He had a couple of hits with an RBI against the C’s on May 25. That was the third of three straight two-hit games for Lin. He was called up to Amarillo for five games in early June before returning to the Hops. The Canadians wished Lin had stayed in Double-A as he drove in the first two runs with a sacrifice fly and a single and was hit by a pitch as the Hops picked up a home win on June 21. Lin would get two more hits and a walk in two later games in that series at Ron Tonkin Field. He would make his presence felt one more time against Monty’s Mounties back at The Nat on July 15. Lin singled home a run as part of a two-hit night and he was hit by a pitch but the C’s were able to hang on for a 2-1 win. The C’s won big the next night on July 16 and the Hops would have been shutout had it not been Lin’s two RBI groundouts in a 12-2 Victory.
The 2022 regular season ended with a one-game call-up to the Triple-A Reno Aces but Lin was hit in the left hand by a pitch in his lone at-bat at Fresno and was taken out of the game on August 24.
Lin would get back on the field but he had to go Down Under to do it as he played in the Australian Baseball League for the 2022-2023 season. He batted .250 with a homer and six RBI in 14 games with the Auckland Tuatara.
Looking to start a fifth season in the Arizona Diamondbacks chain in 2023, Lin was released instead on March 22. He signed as a free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays on April 10 and was assigned to Vancouver on April 21 after Andrés Sosa was sidelined with an oblique injury. After being assigned to the Development List, Lin made his C’s debut and doubled in his second at-bat against Everett on May 14. Another stint on the Development List followed on May 23 before being activated again at the end of the month.
Lin’s next game saw him collect one of the C’s biggest hits of the season in Everett on June 7 when his two-out single in the ninth kickstarted a five-run rally that set up a Garrett Spain grand slam for a comeback win over the AquaSox. The C’s would take another step toward clinching the first-half Northwest League pennant when Lin got a leadoff single to start the bottom of the ninth against his former team Hillsboro. Pinch-runner Michael Turconi scored the tying run before Spain drew a bases-loaded walk to give the C’s another come-from-behind win on June 16. Vancouver would punch its playoff ticket two days later.
On June 22 in Eugene, Lin went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and was hit by a pitch during a win over the Emeralds. Despite sporadic playing time, he had a 10-game on-base streak from May 19 to July 2. His sweetest moment of the year came on July 8 against his former mates in Hillsboro when he hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth to help the C’s record another win against the Hops. Lin is now with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats after getting a promotion on August 15.
C’s Plus Baseball was able to talk to the 26-year-old Lin before the homestand finale against Tri-City in August, just two days before his promotion to Manchester. This interview has been edited for clarity.
C’s Plus Baseball – Lyle, you have the distinction of being drafted by not one, not two, but three teams. Talk about what those draft day experiences were like.
Lyle Lin – Yeah, it was right out of high school. I didn’t really expect it until I actually played for the scout team for the Mariners in SoCal, and then I got drafted in the 16th round out of high school. I got a scholarship to play for ASU so I was turning it down. I went to college and spent two years there and got picked again by the Astros, but I kind of got picked a little later on so I’m like, ‘Why not go back to school?’ And then the Diamondbacks, the 14th round after my junior year, and then, yeah.
CPB – JSerra was the high school you were at. What was that like playing high school ball there?
LL – Yeah, the whole league is just top-tier competition. Well-coached and nice facilities all around. It’s a great Catholic school and I was blessed to spend three years there.
CPB – You went to Arizona State. (2018 Vancouver Canadians pitcher) Fitz Stadler was there. (Current teammate and lefthander) Cooper Benson was there as well. It must have been nice to have at least some Arizona State connections when you got here.
LL – Yeah, definitely, I think one of the best things at Arizona State, you get alumnis in the show and play a long career in pro ball. So they come back, share their knowledge, share their experience with the young guys like me.
CPB – Going to Arizona State, how did that shape you as a player?
LL – It helped me a lot, for sure. Obviously with the good weather and being able to practice throughout the winter and fall. The competition there is really good, too. Also, a lot of times, pro guys will show up in the fall when they work out in the off-season, watching how they take care of business and bring good locker room chemistry. Helping the young guys in their freshman year and leading by example is definitely the best.
CPB – You do get drafted by Arizona and you wind up playing for the Hillsboro Hops in 2019. You scored the winning run in the deciding game and Corbin Carroll was your teammate. What was that first season in Hillsboro like in which you won a championship ring?
LL – Yeah, I tell a lot of guys here, I can’t wait for my second ring, That team, we had a lot of talented players. Corbin, like you say, he’s in the big leagues now, doing just fine. When you have a chance to be in a championship conversation, it’s what we play for. I’m glad we won the first half, and we’re still winning in the second half right now. The team chemistry is great. If we just keep doing the little things right, I think we’ll be just fine.
CPB – You eventually do join the Blue Jays. How did that all come about?
LL – After spring training, after I left the D-Backs. It was about a week and then the Blue Jays called me and said one of their catchers got hurt here. I’m like, ‘Yeah, definitely, no doubt, I want to come here.’ Just getting an opportunity to play, and every day, come to the field. The way I look at it, it’s an opportunity, you know? People say it’s a grind but we’re doing what we love. I appreciate they gave me an opportunity to play baseball here.
CPB – You make your way up here. I know you spent a bit of time in Dunedin and had a couple of stints on the Development List. What was that like being on the development list, just having to be ready to go when your number is called?
LL – Yeah, like you say, this is kind of the situation. When they signed me, they said they were going to put me on the Development List, so I had to expect it. But during those times, you put your head down and keep working. What helped me was a lot of visualization. Like when you’re not playing, you visualize you’re actually playing so it actually helped me.
CPB – You may have had the biggest hit of the first half of the season. The game in Everett, where your base hit starts a rally. What do you remember about that game, the game that ended with the Garrett Spain grand slam?
LL – Yeah, that was one of those games. We never want to give up at-bats. When it’s hit after hit, have a good bat after a good at-bat from the guys behind you, they have good energy and then we got a grand slam and then we won that game. That was one of the best games we had.
CPB – And you had your moment in Hillsboro, getting a home run. That must have been sweet for you to be rounding the bases when you hit that one out?
LL – Yeah, I just tried to hit the ball hard. And then, I got a pitch middle-in, the way I like it. So I just tried to drive the ball. I didn’t know the ball was gone right away. So I was really running for a double. The ball just kept going and it turned into a home run. It’s just a good feeling, especially since we got the dub after the game.
CPB – Was it weird for you to face your former teammates again?
LL – Yeah, at first, you feel kind of weird, especially since I played there for like the last two years or since 2019. But when you’re on the field, you just compete. When you’re in compete mode, I don’t think that much. It’s just, you know, trying to help my team win.
CPB – Playing here at Nat Bailey Stadium, what’s it been like for you? You were here in 2019 before but now that you’re on the other side here, what’s it been like for you playing here at the Nat?
LL – I feel welcome in Oregon and also by the fans here, it’s great. A lot of sold-out games we had this summer, it doesn’t happen a lot in minor league baseball. You try to enjoy every moment. Every time I come to the ballpark, it’s an opportunity for me.
CPB – Did you have a favourite major league team or player growing up? Well, growing up,
LL – I watched a lot of Dodgers games but I wouldn’t say they’re my favourite team. It was just because I grew up in Taiwan and they play a lot of West Coast teams but I really love watching the big leagues. Just how they compete, how they stay calm when they play. They’re all good players .
Lyle Lin File
- Born – June 26, 1997 in Taipei, Taiwan.
- Height/Weight – 6-foot-1, 200 pounds
- Bats/Throws – Right/Right
- Uniform Numbers – Wore number 27 with Arizona State from 2017-2019. Wore number 26 with Hillsboro. Wore number 23 with Visalia and number 29 with Double-A Amarillo in 2021. Wore numbers 5 and 11 with Hillsboro, number 21 with Double-A Amarillo, number 28 with Triple-A Reno and number 10 with Auckland in 2022. Wore number 36 to start the year with Vancouver in 2023.
- Instagram – @lyle_lin_
- Twitter – @lin_lyle
- Fun Fact – Has a pet turtle named Marcus.
Thanks a million to Lyle Lin for the interview and to C’s broadcaster Tyler Zickel for arranging it.
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