The competition for the annual hitting king in secondary vocational schools is fierce. Chen Jiexian is optimistic about the new faces.

Chen Jiexian. (File photo, taken by reporter Chen Yikuan)

[Reporter Xu Zhengyang/Report from Taipei] The 2026 secondary school season is coming to an end, and the competition for the annual batting champion is quite fierce. Although Chen Jiexian is temporarily in the lead with a batting average of 0.317, teammate Pan Jiexuan has a batting average of 0.315, and the Taiwan Steel Eagles Wang Boxuan has a batting average of 0.313. They are all hot on their heels. Fubon star Lin Zebin may have the chance to become the hitter king if he makes up for the loss. Chen Jiexian said that no matter who wins the award, it won’t have a big impact on him. “It’s always the ones who win the award, so there’s no hope. I hope they get it.”

In 2020, Chen Jiexian won the batting and hitting double championship with a batting average of 0.360 and 174 hits. He pointed out that if he really gets the batting title in the end, it will be the second batting title in his career. It will just be one more trophy on the display cabinet at home. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t get it. After all, this year started slowly and he did not play the entire season. He is very satisfied with the current results.

Chen Jiexian said that rather than winning the award again, he is looking forward to seeing new names. Whether it is Pan Jiekai or Wang Boxuan, if they can win for the first time, it may be an important source of confidence in their future careers. "If it is always the same few who win the award, it will not look good and will not be interesting. If different people win, it means that secondary vocational schools are slowly changing and generations are changing."

Lin Zebin currently has 346 at-bats and a batting average of 0.326. If he adds 26 more, he will be parachuted into the slugging king. Chen Jiexian believes that he was originally leading the slugging king in 2024, but Lin Li won the award with 0.353 after making up for the number of at-bats in October. Because he already has experience, he will not care about being "parachuted" by Lin Zebin again. "If he gets it this year, he will definitely be more confident on the court next year."

Chen Jiexian pointed out that this year Pan Jiekai, Wang Boxuan and Lin Zebin all did not play very well at the beginning of the season and did not even have a chance to play. Then they seized the opportunity to perform, slowly improved their results, and finally rushed all the way to the lead. This is a good phenomenon for secondary vocational schools. It represents that secondary vocational schools are gradually showing a new look. I also hope that young players can see from this that they will have opportunities before the end.