Indians Make Deal with Tampa Bay Rays for Pitcher Chih-Wei Hu

The Indians today made a move with the Tampa Bay Rays, grabbing righty pitcher Chih-Wei Hu. The team gave up infielder Gionti Turner in the process.

Hu is 25 years old, he spent most of last year with the Rays Triple-A Durham affiliate, going 5-7 with a 4.66 ERA in 24 games, making a total of 19 starts.

He also was with the big league roster for five games, making appearances in relief, where he could fit in with the Tribe. In those five games, he struck out 12 batters in 13 innings, allowing seven hits and an ERA of 4.15.

The native of Taichung, Taiwan was signed as an amateur free agent by the Minnesota Twins in 2012 and was acquired by Tampa Bay at the 2015 trade deadline for RHP Kevin Jepsen.

In 2016, he recorded the lowest ERA in the Southern League (2.59) for AA Montgomery, was a Baseball America Double-AA All-Star and was a Future’s Game participant.

As far as Turner, the 18-year-old the team dealt for Hu, he was was the Tribe’s 27th round draft pick in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft and hit .296 (50-for-169) for the Indians rookie-level club in the Arizona League in 2018.