I'll start a series of articles looking at past Taiwanese prospects and why they succeeded or didn't succeed from both a statistical and scouting point of view.
Chen was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers for $680,000 US in 1999 and was regarded as the best Taiwanese power hitter to ever be signed by a MLB team. At 21 years old, the Dodgers aggressively started Chen in high-A San Bernadino and Chen responded to the challenge by putting up a line of .316/.404/.580. Even taking into account the fact that the California league is a notorious hitters league, Chen's line was amazing especially since this was his first prolonged exposure to American baseball and culture. Chen displayed many traits you could ask for in a good hitter: high average, good walk rate, big power and he even stole 31 bases in 38 tries. He projected as a 30-30 player and after the season Baseball America named Chen its #17 overall prospect.