Kuo-Ching Kao

From BR Bullpen

Kuo-Ching Kao

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 2", Weight 205 lb.

Born October 6, 1978

Kuo-Ching Kao is a top hitter in the Chinese Professional Baseball League and has played for Taiwan's national team on and off for a decade. He has won one CPBL MVP award.

Kao hit .240/.269/.240 in the 1999 World Port Tournament. In the 2001 World Port Tournament, he batted .294/.294/.353. He was MVP of the 2001 Asian Championship, homering twice including a 2-run shot against Japan, and made the tourney All-Star team at 1B. In the 2002 Haarlem Baseball Week, Kao was 0 for 3. He also appeared in the 2002 World University Championship, going two for eight with a walk.

Kao began his professional career in 2004 with the Uni-President Lions, hitting .239/.322/.425. His first career home run was a grand slam. He improved to .313/.363/.427 in his second season and was 5th in the CPBL in average, third among Taiwan natives.

In 2006, Kuo-Ching produced at a .282/.323/.381 clip as the Lions first baseman. His career blossomed in 2007, when he hit .358/.397/.560 with 20 home runs and 89 RBI. He was third in the league in average, trailing Chin-Feng Chen and Cheng-Min Peng. He was 4th in home runs behind Tilson Brito, Chen and Peng. He was second in RBI behind Brito. He won the MVP award, was named as the All-Star 1B and won a Gold Glove in being the league's most-honored player. For MVP, he beat out Brito, the new home run record holder and Chen, a former major leaguer and the batting titlist. Kao was not without records of his own - he had 152 hits, breaking the old record by nine (Kuei-Chang Tseng may have been the record-holder). He added a grand slam in the 2007 Taiwan Series, which the Lions won.

Kao was with Taiwan's national team in the 2007 Asian Championship, going 1 for 6 with a walk, triple and sacrifice fly. He was 0 for 8 in the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament though he did reach three times by walk or hit-by-pitch. Taiwan still earned a spot in the 2008 Olympics.

Kao cost teammate Wei-Lun Pan a perfect game on July 11, 2008, with an error; Pan allowed no hits or walks. For the 2008 CPBL season, he hit .332/.377/.466. He drove in 74, third in the league behind Tilson Brito and Kuan-Jen Chen. His productive postseason helped his club win the 2008 Taiwan Series.

In the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Kao was 0 for 5 with three strikeouts as Taiwan's starting first baseman.