Orioles manager Buck Showalter said left-hander Wei-Yin Chen understood the reasons behind optioning him to High-A Frederick, but Chen took to social media Tuesday evening to express his disappointment in the move.
One day after Chen had arguably his best outing of the season, throwing eight scoreless innings against the Phillies in a 4-0 win Monday, the Orioles sent Chen to the minors. He will return when his mandatory 10-day minor league window has concluded June 26, but he will miss his turn in the Orioles rotation once and make his next start Saturday for Frederick as an abbreviated three or four-inning outing.
"I am disappointed my routine is being interrupted," Chen tweeted. "I will continue to work hard and do my best to perform. Thank you for all the support!"
Showalter said that the thrust of the move was to preserve the left-hander over the course of the season. Showalter said that Chen complained of general fatigue during his June 10 start against the Red Sox and had benefited in the past from extra rest. He would make his next scheduled major league start June 26 with an extra day of rest while avoiding a Toronto Blue Jays team that feasts on left-handed pitching by skipping his turn Saturday.
"I am in excellent physical shape," Chen tweeted. "I feel great and I am ready for my next start. I just pitched 8 innings of shutout baseball."
Chen isn't active of Twitter. He has posted 38 total tweets since opening his Twitter account in May 2013, and hadn't tweeted in 34 days before Tuesday. Tuesday's tweets are his first posted completely in English.
Chen, who is Taiwanese, has used an interpreter since joining the Orioles in 2012. Before Chen's tweets were posted, Showalter said Chen completely understood the reasoning behind the move. He said that not only was Chen's interpreter, Louis Chao, who translates to Chen in Mandarin, in the room but strength and conditioning coach Ryo Naito was also present to interpret for Chen in Japanese. Chen played his first five pro seasons in Japan.
The roster move to option Chen was made after player media availability had concluded Tuesday.
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