Shin-Soo Choo
From BR Bullpen
Shin-Soo Choo
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 5' 11", Weight 178-200 lb.
- Born July 13, 1982 in Pusan, South Korea
[edit] Biographical Information
Shin-Soo Choo has been in the American major leagues since 2005.
He was named MVP and Best Pitcher in the 1999 and 2000 President's Cup, a Korean high school tournament. Choo was a member of the Korean Junior National Team which won a gold medal at the 2000 Junior World Championship.
The Seattle Mariners signed him as a free agent in 2000. He worked his way up the Mariners minor league organization, hitting mostly over .300 with moderate power. He was a minor league All Star in 2001, 2002, and 2004, and in 2002 was the Mariners Minor League Player of the Year. He had a cup of coffee in the majors in 2005, and was also brought up briefly in 2006 when Jeremy Reed was injured.
As a player on the AAA Tacoma Rainiers, he had with an average over .320 and slugging of approximately .500. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians organization on July 25, 2006. In his first seven games with the Indians, he was hitting .440. He hit .295 for the season for Cleveland that year. In 2007 he has appeared in 58 games with the Buffalo Bisons and 6 with the Indians.
In 2008, Choo finally hit his stride. Playing in left and right field, he amassed 28 doubles and 16 HRs in 317 ABs, finishing with a line of .309/.397/.549, all three of them the best on the Indians. Though he played sporadically at first, he gradually worked his way into the lineup, appearing at both outfield corners and hitting fifth. His power, batting eye, and outfield versatility has made him one of Cleveland's bright young stars, and the best Korean-born hitter in MLB.
Choo was the main DH for South Korea in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, usually hitting 5th behind Hyun-soo Kim and Tae-kyun Kim. The lone active major leaguer on the runner-up team, he hit .188/.409/.563 with 5 runs and 4 RBI in 7 games; two of his 3 hits were home runs. He hit a 3-run homer off Carlos Silva in the semifinal win over Venezuela and a solo shot against Hisashi Iwakuma in the 5-3 finale loss to Japan. With the Indians in 2009, he picked up where he left off the previous season, spending the entire season as a regular and as one of the team's best hitters, playing mostly right field. He hit .300 with 20 home runs and 38 doubles, while scoring 87 runs and driving in 86 in 156 games.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2009)
