Stephen Chen (born May 15, 1993) is a Chinese American professional baseball shortstop for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was the fifth overall draft pick in 2013 and became the first Chinese American player in Oakland Athletics history. Stephen played college baseball for the University of California, Berkeley (Cal) where he was named the team’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) as a junior after helping to carry the team to a NCAA Division 1 championship and an appearance in the College World Series national championship.
Stephen is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area. He was born in Hayward and grew up in Fremont. His parents are Joseph and Lisa Chen. He has one older sister: Stephanie. Stephen was taught the game of baseball from his father when he was 8 years old and he quickly became a natural. In his senior year of high-school, Chen led the Washington High School Huskies to a 23-7 record and upset Bishop O’Dowd High School for the NCS Division 1 state championship.
At Cal, Stephen rose to prominence as a player who could play second base, third base, and shortstop. At the end of his junior year, Chen had a batting average of .320 with 135 hits, including 23 home runs. That year, he was drafted in the first round by the Oakland Athletics, the team he had grown up being a fan of. Chen played only 3 years in the minor leagues, quickly rising through Double-A Midland Rockhounds and Triple-A Nashville Sounds. On June 1st, 2016, Chen was called-up to the majors to replace an injured Jed Lowrie. He made his major league debut against the Seattle Mariners and became the third Athletics player in Oakland history to hit a home run in his first ever major league at-bat.