Perhaps it was his leaping snag of a hot-shot liner to shortstop on March 6 that required every inch of Tsung-Che Cheng’s 5-foot-8 frame.
Or maybe it was just two days later when Cheng — who played second base that afternoon — ranged to the shortstop side of the bag to rob speedy Phillies center fielder Johan Rojas of a sure single. Whichever defensive highlight you prefer to home in on, Cheng made his presence known to the likes of manager Derek Shelton during a roughly monthlong run in big-league camp.
“Defensively, he's played outstanding,” Shelton said shortly before Cheng was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis on March 11. “I think it's been the difference at the end of games. We've made plays at the end of games that maybe we haven't in past spring training games, and it's been the difference in games.”
Sure, the outcomes of these exhibition games are mostly irrelevant. But what Cheng, 23, demonstrated during his third go-around in big-league camp is he has all the makings of a defense-first MLB shortstop.
What Cheng, the Pirates’ No. 17 overall prospect, per MLB Pipeline, lacks in stature, he more than compensates for with a terrific glove, an accurate arm and sufficient range despite his size.
“That is my value on the field,” Cheng told the Post-Gazette, with player personnel assistant Charles Chiang translating. “I’m just trying to make every play. Just catch the ball, throw the ball and make it correctly. Just trying to make every play.”
Defense will likely be what gets Cheng to the big leagues if and when he gets a chance, which is only becoming more feasible as he ascends the Pirates farm system. After spending most of the last two seasons with Double-A Altoona, Cheng wrapped up the 2024 campaign in Indianapolis, which is where he figures to start the 2025 season.
But Cheng endured some challenges at the plate in 2024, primarily in the first half of the year. Cheng entered May hitting just .167 for Altoona while striking out over 36% of the time and didn’t get his average above the Mendoza line until May 18.
In the early stages of the summer, Cheng tweaked his batting stance by standing a little bit taller, which he thought at the time allowed him to see the ball better. Cheng’s strikeout rate dropped considerably after that adjustment, and he started hitting for average more consistently.
That trend not only carried over throughout the rest of 2024 but during spring training, as well. Across 14 spring training games this year, Cheng hit .353 with a 1.047 OPS.
“With my swing now, it’s less strikeouts and more hits,” Cheng said. “And most importantly, I can use all of the field. I can hit the ball to all of the fields.
“I feel really confident with my swing and I didn’t lose my extra-base hits. That’s pretty important.”
Cheng walloped one homer, as well as a couple doubles this spring before being sent away from big-league camp with roughly two weeks to go until the Pirates season opener.
Although his physique might not lend itself to many long balls on paper, Cheng has run into some power during his past two years in the minors. He smacked a combined 24 home runs over 1,017 at-bats in the past two seasons. But these days, the speedy Cheng is in a better position in the batter’s box to take advantage of his inherent tools rather than just swing for the fences.
“Not only a homer is an extra-base hit — a double is an extra-base hit, too,” Cheng said. “And sometimes I can use my speed to make it happen with a double. So that’s pretty important, too.”
With his defense already quite steady and his offensive game coming along, Cheng is in a pretty solid spot. He’s come a long way since the Pirates signed him as an international free agent out of Taiwan in July 2019.
There aren’t terribly many shortstops ahead of Cheng on the organizational depth chart, either. Veteran Isiah Kiner-Falefa is poised to be the Pirates’ everyday shortstop, and one-time top prospect Liover Peguero is still on the scene, but he, too, was optioned to Indianapolis on the same day as Cheng.
Outside of those two, however, there aren’t many shortstops standing in the way of Cheng and the big leagues. But Cheng isn’t one to preoccupy himself with pondering a potential MLB future.
Rather, he’s most focused in 2025 on steadily getting better on both sides of the ball and letting the chips fall where they may.
“There’s a lot of things I can’t control on the field, a lot of goals that are hard to achieve,” Cheng said. “But the most important thing is to keep improving every day and just get better than yesterday. That’s the most important thing. That’s my goal this year.”
First Published: March 17, 2025, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: March 17, 2025, 7:41 p.m.
