St. Louis Cardinals pitching prospect Chen-Wei Lin was named the Pitcher of the Week in the Arizona Fall League on Monday. 

Chen-Wei Lin is your Arizona Fall League Pitcher of the Week! The @Cardinals' right-hander struck out five batters and allowed just one hit in three scoreless frames in his lone start:

The No. 16 prospect in the organization, per MLB Pipeline, he was also selected as a participant for the AFL All-Star Game on Sunday night, though he did not participate in the game.

Our recap on the two Cardinals that did play can be found here.

The Chen-Wei Lin file

Now 23 years old, Lin spent the 2025 season at three different levels, pitching in 17 games between Single-A, High-A and Double-A. He had an ERA of 5.54 but possesses an excellent fastball that reaches the triple-digits.

He was much better in 2024, going 10-5 at Single-A with a 2.79 ERA. He struck out 123 batters in 116.0 innings that year.

What they're saying

The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com prospect profile:

Lin was the only Palm Beach pitcher to exceed 100 mph in 2024, and he did it 12 times and touched 101 on May 25. He typically stayed more in the 95-98 mph range with his four-seamer, and while the heater had ample armside run, it didn’t come with great ride, causing it to play below the velo. His 86-89 mph changeup was a much better whiff-heavy pitch with 50.8 percent of swings coming up empty against it

What this honor means

On the surface? Not much, but it could be a nice stepping stone for Lin as he moves forward in his career. If it gives him confidence then it will have been a good thing. As for the Cardinals? Given that they are about to embark on a rebuild, any success from the minor league-level is good. They'll need contributions to come from everywhere as they look to work toward true competitiveness again soon.

They are also expected to trade Sonny Gray and Nolan Arenado this offseason, further expediting the rebuild with the prospect capital gained.

St. Louis finished in fourth place in the National League Central in 2025, missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season. They had a losing record for the second straight campaign.

The Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds all made the playoffs from the NL Central.