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Shin-Soo Choo (Template:Ko-hhrm; born July 13, 1982) is a baseball outfielder for the SSG Landers of the KBO League.
Choo was selected as the Most Valuable Player and Best Pitcher of the 2000 World Junior Baseball Championship held in Edmonton, Alberta as South Korea won the event. Choo signed a $1.35M contract with the Mariners after the championship and converted to the outfield. At Busan High School, Choo batted fourth and could throw in the mid-90s as a pitcher. Choo is a "five-tool player" – possessing the talent to hit for power and average, being an above average defender, and having above average arm strength and above average speed.
Career[]
2005-2006: Seattle Mariners[]
Choo made his Major League Baseball debut with the Seattle Mariners on April 21, 2005, but spent most of the 2005 season and the first half of the 2006 season in the minor leagues with the Mariners' Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians along with minor leaguer Shawn Nottingham on July 26, 2006, for first baseman Ben Broussard.
2006: Cleveland Indians[]
Two days after being traded, Choo hit a solo home run against his former club in a 1-0 Indians victory. In 45 games with the Indians, he batted .295 (43 for 146) with 3 home runs and 22 RBI.
2007[]
He spent the first few weeks of the 2007 regular season with the Buffalo Bisons, a AAA team in the International League affiliated with the Indians, before being called up on April 23, 2007 to take the place of the injured third baseman Andy Marté.[1] He was optioned back to Buffalo on May 3.[2] Choo missed several months of the 2007 season due to injury, and in September 2007 underwent Tommy John surgery on his left elbow.
2008[]
In the 2008 season, Choo was called up on May 31 and spent the rest of the season with the Indians. He finished the season (after 317 at-bats) with a .309 batting average, 98 hits, 14 home runs, and 66 RBI. His 98 hits and 66 RBI are also a new record for most hits and RBI by a Korean-born player in the MLB. Thanks to a hot September where he put up a .400 batting average, 34 hits, 5 home runs, and 24 RBI, Choo was awarded the American League Player of the Month for September Award presented by Sharp.
2009[]
In February 2009, he signed a one-year contract with the Cleveland Indians.[3] During that season, he broke his own records for home runs, RBIs, stolen bases and hits. On October 3, 2009, Choo hit his 20th homer off of Paul Byrd of the Boston Red Sox, thus joining the 20-20 club. He is the first Asian to accomplish this feat. He was also the only player in AL to have a .300 average, 20 home runs, and 20 stolen bases at the same time. He finished the season with 20 home runs, 21 steals, 86 RBI, and a .300 batting average.
World Baseball Classic[]
Choo was on the 2009 World Baseball Classic Korean roster. Cleveland has allowed Choo to play under the condition that he plays only one game or less as an outfielder in the first round, and only in two non-consecutive games of the second round.[4] Cleveland has lifted this restriction from the semifinals and on, and Choo started as an outfielder in the semifinal match against Venezuela. He helped Korea win 10-2 against Venezuela with a three-run home run against Carlos Silva on the first inning. He also contributed a solo home run on the fifth inning at the finals against Hisashi Iwakuma of Japan, where Korea lost to Japan 3-5.
References[]
- ↑ The Official Site of The Cleveland Indians: Team: Transactions
- ↑ The Official Site of The Cleveland Indians: Team: Transactions
- ↑ Hoynes, Paul (2009-02-22). Cleveland Indians sign nine to one-year contracts. The Plain Dealer (newspaper). Retrieved on 2009-03-02.
- ↑ Castrovince, Anthony (2009-03-04). Choo's injury complicated for Indians. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2009-03-05.
External links[]
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Choo, Shin-Soo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 13, 1982 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |