In 1999 in the Cal League with Single-A
San Bernardino Stampede in 1999, he
batted .316/.404/.580 with 31 homers, 31 steals, 123 RBIs, and 75 walks. Along with outfielder
Joc Pederson, who achieved the same feat in the Triple-A in 2014, Chen is one of only two
Los Angeles Dodgers minor leaguers to have a
30 home run, 30 stolen bases season. in 2005 Chen became the first Taiwanese baseball player to play in
Major League Baseball (MLB) when he made his debut on September 14, 2002. He played sparingly for the
Los Angeles Dodgers in parts of the 2002–05 seasons. In 2005, Chen was reluctant to accept a designation for assignment back to the Dodgers'
Las Vegas 51s Triple-A team and try out with another major league team. In 2005, Chen was the first Taiwanese position player to ever get a hit in MLB, a 2-run RBI single off
Colorado Rockies' reliever
Bobby Seay. Pitcher
Chin-hui Tsao had earlier become the first Taiwanese player to get a hit in the majors, with the
Colorado Rockies on August 18, 2003. After his contract with the Dodgers expired after the 2005 season, Chen announced on December 26, 2005, that he would not return to North America for the 2006 season but would instead enter the CPBL draft. In 2006, after struggling to make the 25-man roster with the Dodgers, Chen tried out for the Japanese professional league (
NPB), and eventually decided to play in the
Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. He was promptly selected by the
La New Bears as a
designated hitter. Chen completed his first complete baseball season back home in Taiwan in 2006. He ranked first in many statistics, including batting average and 81 RBIs. He also led the Bears to the championship, and won his first MVP title for the final series matches. In the
2007 Asian Baseball Championship, Chen homered off
Yu Darvish of
Japan, briefly giving
Chinese Taipei a lead. Chen played well in the tournament and gained attention from several Japanese and Korean teams, including the
Orix Buffaloes. However, Chen did not sign with them, and remained in Taiwan. Chen announced his retirement from the CPBL on September 18, 2016. Following the end of his final match that day, Lamigo Monkeys retired his number, #52. ==Post-playing career==