Better Know a Brewer: Wei-Chung Wang

Wang could be an interesting addition for the Brew Crew. Mandatory Credit: Mike Janes/Four Seam Images

The newest addition to the Milwaukee Brewers’ 25-man roster is none other than 21-year-old Taiwanese left-handed pitcher Wei-Chung Wang. This past season, Wang pitched in the rookie level league for the Pittsburgh Pirates, so how will he do in 2014?

When the Brewers selected Wang just a couple days ago in the Rule 5 Draft, they did so with the intentions of making him a high-level prospect. Brewers’ general manager Doug Melvin spoke highly of Wang, who has only had one year of professional baseball in America.

"“We’re hoping for some upside here, coming off of Tommy John surgery [in 2011],” Melvin said. “It’s a chance to capture what we might consider a high-level prospect.” – via Brewers.com"

Whether Melvin’s hopes are grounded in reality or not will be seen in the coming months. As the rules of the Rule 5 Draft explain, a selected player must be moved to the team’s 25-man roster on Opening Day and stay there for the entire 2014 season.

If the Brew Crew decide that they would rather part ways with Wang, he would then be returned to Pittsburgh. However, Melvin seems to have faith in the youngster who did well in rookie ball.

This past season, Wang went 1-3 in 11 starts (12 games) with an ERA of 3.23 all inside 47.1 innings pitched. He did sport a nice K/9 of 8.0 and a dazzling BB/9 of 0.8. That aside, rookie ball is absolutely nowhere near the major league level, which is something Wang will have to figure out should he stay here that long. It’s hard to imagine he’d find much, if any, success at the major league level before even pitching in the minor leagues, but that remains to be seen.

Should Wang actually turn out to be a decent pitcher for the Brewers, I’d imagine he’d be stuck in the bullpen as they currently only have two left-handers. He certainly could possess starting rotation potential, but we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves. I have a feeling though we probably won’t see Wang in 2014 with the Brewers, but who knows.

What do you think, should the Brewers try to work it out with Wang or should they give him back to the Pirates? Let us know your thoughts.