Random Brave Wednesday - Bruce Chen

The Panamanian Southpaw didn't live up to the expectations, but still had an impressive career

For seventeen years, the grandson of Chinese immigrants in Panama, left-hander Bruce Chen, persevered. He wore eleven different major league jerseys during the regular season, was the second-to-last active player who played for the Montreal Expos, and decided to come out of retirement to play for the Chinese national team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He was never the guy, but he still pitched in 400 games in the majors because he never gave up on the dream.

Well, being left-handed does help.

The year was 1993 and the international class had just opened for its yearly signings. Though many fans have this idea that all of central and South America are hotbeds of baseball players waiting to be found by scouts, only seventeen players born in Panama debuted in the 90's. Of course, that includes the best closer of all-time, Mariano Rivera. So, there's…that. Nevertheless, prior to signing a major league contract, Chen attended Instituto Panamericano, a school which boasts among its alumni not one player other than Chen that has made it to the majors. I supposed Chen is a trailblazer then.

Only July 1, 1993, the Atlanta Braves signed the young lefty to his first professional contract. The following year, he joined the Gulf Coast League squad to get his feet wet. Just 17, Chen was productive in what is now called the Florida Coast League, pitching to a 3.80 ERA over 42.2 innings. The following year, he moved up to advanced-Rookie ball and joined Danville. He would be outshined on Danville by fellow prospect, Winston Abreu, but you don't completely ignore a 3.97 ERA for an 18-year-old pitching against mostly college-age players.

The Braves remained deliberate with the southpaw, holding off his full season debut for another year as he played 1996 in the short-season-A Northwest League with Eugene. And yes, the Braves used to have a minor league team in Oregon in a level that no longer exists. Oh, and Chen was great in a brief look there, striking out 55 in 35.2 innings. It was enough for his star to begin to rise as Baseball America ranked him as the #83rd-best prospect in baseball entering 1997. Meanwhile, Chen got his first chance to take his talents to a full-season league and did not disappoint. In 28 starts at Macon, he went 12-7 with a 3.51 ERA. In 146.1 innings, he struck out 182. That'll play now.

No longer hidden, Chen was now the #27th prospect entering 1998 and the Braves finally decided it was time to get a bit more aggressive with Chen now that he was in his Age-21 season. In 139.1 innings in the Southern League with Greenville, he picked up 164 K's and had a 3.29 ERA. It was enough to win him a Pitcher of the Year award. He'd also start four games in Richmond with a 1.88 ERA. Oh, and why not bring him to the majors, too? In four starts with the big league club, Chen had a 3.98 ERA. After getting beat around in his debut by the Mets, he pitched into the seventh inning in his next two starts, wins against the Marlins and Diamondbacks.

After the Braves dealt Denny Neagle in the offseason, they opened up the fifth starter spot and Chen tried to beat out fellow lefthander, Odalis Perez. The latter won the job, though. Chen would fill-in for John Smoltz for a few starts in May and also in July. He'd also briefly replace Perez in the rotation before the Braves decided to go with the veteran, Terry Mulholland, to finish the season. Chen's highlight came on the penultimate day of the season when he received a spot start against the Marlins. He tossed six scoreless innings, allowing just one baserunner on a single and striking out six. The offense, sadly, couldn't support Chen and the Braves lost 1-0 in ten. Chen's other highlight of 1999 was being part of the first Futures Game. He was a member of the World Squad, which won 7-0 at Fenway Park behind two homers by Alfonso Soriano.

Overall, 1999 wasn't a great showing for Chen. His strikeout numbers fell when he pitched for Richmond and his ERA of 5.47 in the majors was certainly not impressive. Atlanta seemed as if they were indifferent toward the lefty moving forward. He appeared in 22 games out of the bullpen for the Braves in 2000 with a 2.50 ERA, but it was more telling that he didn't get a shot in the rotation as John Burkett and Mulholland were unimpressive holding down the final two spots in the rotation. But the only person younger than 32 to get a start for the 2000 Braves was Kevin Millwood. Chen was relegated to relief work until mid-July when the Braves flipped him, along with Jimmy Osting, for Phillies starter, Andy Ashby. Immediately, the Phillies elected to start Chen, and he performed just as well as Ashby for the remainder of 2000.

Chen's time with Philly would be brief. After sixteen starts in '01, the Phils kept Chen's NL East journey alive by trading him to the Mets. He didn't get comfortable there either and was dealt at the beginning of the '02 season after just a dozen appearances with the Mets. His new club was also in the NL East - the Expos. After 15 forgetful games, he was traded again to the Reds to finish '02. Three uniforms in one year and he would never wear any of them again.

After being cut by the Reds in spring of '02, he moved to the still-NL Houston Astros. Again waived, this time in May, he began the American League portion of his career with the Boston Red Sox. All told, he pitched just 24.1 innings in 2003, split almost evenly between the Astros and Red Sox. It was the fewest innings he had thrown in the majors since '98.

Remember when I said he played for eleven major league teams? That doesn't include a brief run with the Blue Jays' organization to begin '04. On May 1, he was sent to the Orioles as part of a conditional deal and eventually impressed in eight games, including his first major league complete game. That bought him some more time and he had his first "good" season in the bigs in '05. He logged 197.1 innings with the Orioles, starting 32 games with a 3.83 ERA. For the first time, Chen actually earned some good money, signing a $3.8 million contract for the 2006 season. Sadly, he went to pieces and his dream to finally find a home in one major league city ended. A forgetful run with Texas over a handful of games followed in '07 and it looked like, maybe, Chen's career might be ending.

He wouldn't pitch in 2008 before joining the Panamanian team in the 2009 World Basic Classic. His performance there caught the interest of the Royals who, by this time, had the former Braves scout and front office member Dayton Moore at the helm. Chen's '09 exploits were not great, but the Royals brought him back and he became a steady arm for them in 2010 with a 4.17 ERA in 140.1 innings. In 2011, the lefty would miss some time, but still maintained a 3.77 ERA over 25 games.

His success led to one of his greatest personal achievements - he started opening day in 2012, throwing six scoreless innings against the Angels. While he started the year fairly well, he finished with a 5.43 ERA over his final 25 starts and a 5.07 ERA for the full season. He did lead the American League in games started, the only time he led the league in a category.

Well, if you don’t count his 1.000 average in 2006, 2009, and 2010.

Chen would pitch two more years with the Royals, a fairly solid campaign as a swingman in 2013 and an ugly 48.1 innings in 2014. The following season, Kansas City moved on from Chen and he tried his luck in Cleveland, but only made two starts in the majors. Once he was designated for assignment, Chen announced his retirement. He'd unretire to pitch one game for Team China in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, but re-retired soon after.

Following his playing career, Chen has worked for both the Guardians and Dodgers organization. As of July 2021, he was Director of RBI Panama, an organization that seeks to grow baseball in Panama. In 2022, he did a series for Baseball Roots, looking at the many teams of the Appalachian League. He even re-united with Andruw Jones for one episode as they remembered their time with the Danville Braves. If you’re interested, he also did an episode with Jason Marquis.

Bruce Chen is the best kind of "bust." Sure, he never became the kind of player that Baseball American envisioned when they named him the 4th-best prospect in baseball. But he battled his ass off, reinvented himself, added pitches, dropped pitches, and did everything he could to extend a career many lesser men would have given up on. Sure, he never made an appearance in the Midsummer Classic let alone in the postseason, but he still tossed 1500 innings in the majors and that's an accomplishment worth cheering for a guy who was passed around like a hot potato for much of his career.