Lin learning to harness his rocket arm 08:55 PM EDT on Thursday, July 21, 2011 By BRIAN MacPHERSON Journal Sports Writer PAWTUCKET - Che-Hsuan Lin possesses perhaps the strongest outfield arm in the Red Sox system. When he was younger, he didn't think too much about what he did with that arm. "When I was younger, I didn't think that way," he said. "I didn't hit the cutoff man. I would think just to throw as hard as I can, so I would make a lot of throwing errors and didn't help the team. Now I'm getting better at that." As fast as Lin can run and as hard as he can throw, he's still learning the finer points of playing center field at the Triple-A level. He sailed a throw over the cutoff man in the eighth inning Wednesday, costing the PawSox a chance to double up a runner who had rounded second base on a fly ball to center field. An inning later, though, he made a perfect throw to third base that, while it didn't cut down the runner at third, allowed Hector Luna to make a relay throw to Drew Sutton to nab the trailing runner at second. "We all know he's got one of the best arms in the league, if not one of the better arms in baseball," PawSox manager Arnie Beyeler said. "But it doesn't play when the ball is 50 feet high. Guys just keep running. We've got to hit the relay guys and let them help you out and keep balls down. He made the adjustment on that last play, and it ended up helping us get out of an inning by just making a fundamental play." Said Lin, "I wanted to try to keep the ball down. I just wanted to hit the cutoff man." The 22-year-old speedster from Taiwan recorded 18 outfield assists at Single-A Salem in 2009 and 15 more at Double-A Portland. Double-A opponents didn't give him many chances to test his arm in April and May - he had just three outfield assists in his first two months - and Triple-A runners appear to have gotten the same memo. He has just four outfield assists so far with the PawSox. The latest was the key ninth-inning assist Wednesday. Lehigh Valley had runners on first and second with one out in a game tied at 1-1 when Kevin Frandsen lofted a fly ball to center field. Both runners - Brian Bocock at second base, Rich Thompson at first - tagged up to advance. Lin realistically had no chance to throw out Bocock at third base, but his low throw in the vicinity of the cutoff man caused Thompson to hesitate on his way to second. By the time Thompson got going again, Luna had relayed the ball to Sutton for the out. "He got behind the ball well and made a good, strong throw, but the key was that he kept the ball down," Beyeler said. "The one before, when he went and caught it, he just launched it in the air and tried to get it to first base, and it ends up in never-never-land." Lin has hit .268 with a .332 on-base percentage since his promotion to Triple-A Pawtucket in late May. He drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday, but driving in runs doesn't tend to be his game. He has hit 10 doubles and just one home run in more than 350 plate appearances this season. His future value to the Red Sox - or to another organization that might be interested in dealing for him - will be come mostly from his ability to get on base and his ability to play top-notch defense in the outfield. The more he can refine his defensive skills - including the way he throws the ball - the more valuable he'll be. "It's just little stuff, fundamental stuff he needs to keep chipping away on - the game awareness, the speed of the game," Beyeler said. "He asks questions. He's very receptive. He's really improving." http://www.projo.com/pawsox/content/PawSox_Che-Hsuan_Lin_0722.4a472b58.html --

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