JAWS and the 2026 Corridor of Fame Poll: Shin-Soo Choo

The next article is a part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing have a look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2026 Corridor of Fame poll. For an in depth introduction to this yr’s poll, and different candidates within the collection, use the software above; an introduction to JAWS might be discovered right here. For a tentative schedule, see right here. All WAR figures check with the Baseball Reference model until in any other case indicated.

By the point Shin-Soo Choo reached the majors with the Mariners in 2005, 9 South Korea-born pitchers had adopted within the wake of Chan Ho Park, who debuted with the Dodgers in 1994, however only one place participant preceded him, specifically Hee-Seop Choi. It took a number of years and a lopsided commerce earlier than Choo’s main league profession acquired off the bottom, and he misplaced important time to quite a lot of accidents, however over the course of his 16 seasons with Seattle, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Texas, he established himself as an on-base machine with appreciable pop. He set a lot of firsts, together with changing into the primary South Korean place participant to make an All-Star staff and now, the primary such participant to make a Corridor of Fame poll.

To those eyes, that latter distinction is a giant deal. Many of the 12 newcomers on this yr’s Corridor of Fame poll don’t have the numbers to advantage election and even a lot debate. Their look on the poll after spending at the very least 10 seasons within the majors with some distinction is its personal reward, and with the deadline for voting now previous, we’re within the a part of the cycle the place we will take the time to have fun these gamers’ high quality careers in their very own proper. A decade in the past, I raised a little bit of a world stink when Park — who spent 17 seasons within the majors (1994–2010), gained 124 video games (nonetheless the main league report for a participant born in Asia, one forward of former teammate Hideo Nomo), and have become the primary South Korea-born participant to make an All-Star staff — was left off. It felt like a unnecessary snub. “Like Hideo Nomo, who blazed a path for contemporary Japanese gamers to come back to the majors, Park deserves the popularity that comes with a spot on the poll,” I wrote for SI.com. I’ve made noise about different slights since then, and I believe the scenario has improved over time, so I’m notably glad to see Choo right here.

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Shin-Soo Choo was born on July 13, 1982 within the Nam district of Busan, South Korea, a coastal metropolis that’s the nation’s second-largest, behind Seoul. He’s the oldest son of father So-min Choo and mom Yu-jeon Park. He was born right into a baseball household, as his mom’s brother, Jeong-Tae Park, starred as a second baseman for the KBO’s Lotte Giants from 1991–2004, profitable 5 Gold Gloves (given to the perfect all-around participant at every place, not simply the perfect defender) and sealing the Giants’ 1992 championship by recording the ultimate out of their Korean Collection victory over the Binggrae Eagles.

Choo began enjoying baseball when he was 9, inspired by his uncle, who would depart tickets to Giants video games. “I’d get on the bus after observe, nonetheless sporting my uniform, and take it to the stadium and he’d depart a ticket for me or the guards knew me and I’d be capable of get in for the final couple of innings of video games,” he informed the Dallas Morning Information’ Evan Grant in 2020.

Choo even modified elementary colleges in order that he might be a part of a baseball program. He took a 30-minute bus trip every strategy to Suyeong Elementary College, the place he turned associates with future KBO star and Seattle Mariner Dae-Ho Lee. He excelled as each a pitcher and a hitter, and centered solely on the game at Busan Excessive College, the place he was teammates with one other future Mariner, Cha Sueng Baek. From the New York Instances’ Tyler Kepner in 2010:

Think about a highschool the place baseball is the one curriculum. What number of boys would love that? No extra pencils, no extra books, solely fastballs, changeups and hooks?

…As Choo described it at Progressive Area this week, he began a five-hour observe each morning at 7. Extra observe adopted after an hour break. At 5 o’clock, the player-students broke for showers and dinner, then lifted weights from 9 to 10 p.m. They slept on campus and visited their households on Sundays.

Choo led the college to back-to-back championships within the President’s Cup in 1999 and 2000, profitable each the Finest Participant Award and the Excellent Pitcher Award in each of these years.

Choo was chosen for the Korean Junior Nationwide Workforce, and starred because the staff (which additionally featured Lee) gained the 2000 World Junior Championship in Edmonton. Within the Gold Medal sport towards a United States staff that featured Joe Mauer, Jeremy Bonderman, and J.J. Hardy, Choo gained match MVP honors, capped by going 2-for-5 with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless reduction — unfold over two appearances, with a stint in heart discipline — within the 13-inning championship sport. General, he went 2-0 with a 3.48 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 21 innings unfold over six video games.

Choo had dreamed of enjoying on the identical staff as his uncle, and the Lotte Giants drafted him with their first decide in the 2001 KBO Rookie Draft (held in June 2000). Nonetheless, by that time, the Mariners — one of many first groups to scout aggressively in Asia — had taken a big curiosity. Former main league pitcher Jim Colborn, who as Seattle’s Pacific Rim scout was instrumental in signing NPB celebrity Ichiro Suzuki, scouted Choo and in mid-August signed him for a $1.335 million bonus, outbidding a number of different groups. “He’s the perfect child in Asia that we’ve seen,” mentioned Roger Jongewaard, the Mariners’ director of scouting and participant growth. “He’s a legit two-way man.”

Although Choo may attain 95 mph along with his fastball, the Mariners determined he would play heart discipline upon coming stateside, which he first did for tutorial league exercise that fall. Although he was listed at simply 5-foot-11, 178 kilos on the time, Baseball America famous his “large energy potential,” sturdy working, and excellent arm whereas rating Choo 14th on the Mariners’ 2001 high prospects record. He debuted with the staff’s rookie-level Arizona League affiliate that yr, hitting .302/.420/.513 with 10 triples, 14 steals, and 4 homers in 51 video games, then went 6-for-13 in a three-game stint after being promoted to A-level Wisconsin. He continued to rake, batting .303/.421/.451 with seven homers and 37 steals whereas spending most of 2002 at Wisconsin, with a short promotion to Excessive-A San Bernardino; he was one of many Mariners’ representatives on the Futures Video games that yr, his first of 3 times being chosen for that honor.

Choo made Baseball America’s High 100 Prospects record at no. 61 within the spring of 2003, however dropped off the record the next yr regardless of hitting a good .286/.365/.459 with 9 homers and 18 steals at Excessive-A Inland Empire; his transfer out of heart discipline was most likely an element. He was again on the record for 2005 at no. 51 — and third on the Mariners’ record behind Félix Hernández and Jeremy Reed — after hitting .315/.382/.462 with 15 homers and 40 steals for Double-A San Antonio, with BA grading his arm plus-plus however sounding notes of warning about each his offense and protection: “He has the power to hit 25 homers, however Choo’s method isn’t conducive to energy. He’ll want to shut his swing and do a greater job of recognizing inside pitches. His outfield instincts are missing and restrict him to the corners. His throws may use extra accuracy.”

Although he spent most of 2005 at Triple-A Tacoma — the place he acquired too pull-conscious and hit simply 11 homers — Choo acquired his first style of the majors that yr, not that it went properly. Recalled on April 20 after the staff positioned Scott Spiezio on what was then the disabled record, he debuted the subsequent day, and made the ultimate out of a 3-0 defeat by the A’s; pinch-hitting for Miguel Olivo, he grounded out towards Octavio Dotel. Shuttling backwards and forwards to Tacoma, he made back-to-back pinch-hitting appearances on Might 2 and three towards the Angels, and picked up his first main league hit within the latter, a ninth-inning RBI single off Scot Shields. That turned out to be his solely main league hit of the season; he went 0-for-15 with three walks in a stint through the second half of September.

With Suzuki and Raúl Ibañez entrenched on the outfield corners, and with the Mariners already awash in left-handed reserves, the staff couldn’t discover room for the 23-year-old Choo in 2006. He spent a lot of the first 4 months of the season at Tacoma, hitting .323/.394/.499 with 13 homers and 26 steals in 94 video games, interrupted by a four-game stint with the large membership in early July, protecting heart discipline whereas Reed was injured; he went 1-for-11 with a double off the Angels’ Jered Weaver. On July 26, he caught a break, as he and a participant to be named later (lefty Shawn Nottingham) had been traded to Cleveland for lefty-swinging DH/first baseman Ben Broussard.

The deal would become an extremely unbalanced one, as Broussard netted -0.7 WAR in a season and a half with Seattle, whereas Choo went on to provide 21.8 WAR for Cleveland. His first sport for his new staff was towards the Mariners, coincidentally sufficient, and he made them pay by strolling twice and hitting his first main league house run — all off the 20-year-old Hernández, no much less, with the homer offering the sport’s solely run. He hit .295/.373/.473 (119 OPS+) with 1.5 WAR in simply 45 video games for Cleveland whereas enjoying primarily proper discipline.

Whereas Cleveland got here inside one win of a World Collection berth in 2007, Choo’s season was a misplaced one. Initially slated to platoon with Casey Blake in proper discipline, he was as a substitute bumped again to Triple-A Buffalo when the staff signed free agent Trot Nixon, who regardless of a scorching begin would web -1.2 WAR. Choo performed in simply six video games for Cleveland in late April, going 5-or-17 with 5 RBIs. Again at Buffalo, he was sidelined by soreness in his left elbow, and ended up present process Tommy John surgical procedure in late September. After rehabbing, he returned to the majors on Might 31 2008, initially as a part of a platoon with Franklin Gutierrez. Lo and behold, he broke out, incomes time towards lefties as properly whereas hitting .309/.397/.549 (151 OPS+) with 13 homers and three.6 WAR in 94 video games cut up between the 2 outfield corners and DH. He was the American League’s Participant of the Month for September.

Over the winter of 2008–09, Choo was chosen as a member of Korea’s staff for the World Baseball Basic. He was the one present main leaguer on a roster that included former main leaguer Jung Bong and a number of other KBO stars who would ultimately come stateside together with Lee, Hyun Soo Kim, Kwang Hyun Kim, Seunghwan Oh, and Hyun Jin Ryu. Serving as a DH with restricted play within the outfield (as stipulated by Cleveland), he hit .188/.409/.563 in seven video games, with two of his three hits house runs, and large ones at that, specifically a three-run homer off Venezuela’s Carlos Silva within the semifinal sport and a solo homer off Japan’s Hisashi Iwakuma within the championship sport, although Korea misplaced 5-3 and completed as runners-up.

Whereas the members of South Korea’s gold-medal-winning 2006 Olympic staff had their two-year navy service obligations waived, the nation determined {that a} second-place end within the WBC wasn’t sufficient to advantage related remedy. That left the going-on-27-year-old Choo nonetheless obligated to meet his requirement by the point he turned 30. The difficulty hardly hindered his play, as he confirmed his breakout was no fluke, hitting .300/.394/.489 and rating eighth within the AL in on-base proportion, tenth in OPS+ (136), and twelfth in WAR (5.5). With 21 homers and 20 steals, he turned the primary participant born in Asia to go 20-20. Whereas Cleveland gained simply 65 video games that yr, Choo supplied one in every of their lighter moments on June 11, when he hit a walk-off single that scattered a flock of seagulls in shallow heart discipline, distracting the Royals’ Coco Crisp because the ball scooted by him whereas Mark DeRosa scored the profitable run.

Choo hit 22 homers to go along with 22 steals in 2010, whereas batting .300/.401/.484 with a career-high 5.9 WAR, good for tenth within the AL; his OBP ranked fourth. After the season, he joined South Korea’s staff for the Asian Video games in Guangzhou, China, nonetheless hoping that a world gold medal would earn him a navy exemption. He went 8-for-14 with three homers and 11 RBIs general, with two hits and two RBIs within the closing, a 9-3 win over Taiwan. Shortly after the victory, South Korean officers knowledgeable Choo and his staff that he had acquired the exemption.

Between a damaged left thumb that required surgical procedure — the results of being hit by a Jonathan Sánchez pitch — and a recurrent left indirect pressure, Choo performed in simply 85 video games in 2011, dipping to a 107 OPS+ with 1.6 WAR. He was again to full well being the subsequent yr, enjoying in 155 video games and hitting .283/.373/.441 (129 OPS) with 16 homers, 21 steals and three.6 WAR.

For in addition to Choo performed with Cleveland, the staff misplaced at the very least 93 video games 3 times in 5 years from 2008–12, maxing out at 81 wins within the first of these seasons. With Choo — a Scott Boras shopper — having gone year-to-year along with his contracts as a substitute of signing an extension, it was obvious he wasn’t going to stay round long-term. On December 11, 2012, he was dealt to the Reds as a part of a three-team, nine-player commerce that moreover despatched Trevor Bauer from the Diamondbacks to Cleveland and Didi Gregorius from the Reds to the Diamondbacks.

In Cincinnati, Choo joined a staff that had reached the playoffs in two of the earlier three seasons below supervisor Dusty Baker, one which had a powerful rotation however some apparent holes within the lineup. With light-hitting Drew Stubbs dealt to Cleveland within the three-way commerce, the Reds put Choo in heart discipline, and Baker put in him as his leadoff hitter as properly — an enormous enchancment on condition that his leadoff hitters (primarily Zack Cozart and Brandon Phillips) had produced only a .254 on-base proportion, the bottom full-season mark by a staff in 43 years. With Choo getting hit by a pitch a league-leading 26 instances to go along with his career-high 112 walks, he hit .285/.423/.462 with 21 homers, 20 steals, and, regardless of tough protection in heart (-17 DRS), a stable 4.6 WAR; his OBP ranked second within the Nationwide League solely to teammate Joey Votto — the 2 constructed a friendship as they tried to maintain up with each other in that class — whereas his 145 OPS+ ranked sixth. The Reds gained 90 video games and claimed a Wild Card berth; whereas Choo scored each of the Reds’ runs towards the Pirates within the Wild Card Recreation, coming round after being hit by a Francisco Liriano pitch within the fourth and hitting a solo homer off Tony Watson within the eighth, Cincinnati fell, 6-2.

With that, the 31-year-old Choo hit free company. From 2008-13, he had produced 24.8 WAR regardless of lacking important time in each ’08 and ’11; solely 5 outfielders outproduced him throughout that span, and solely seven had the next OPS+ than his 137. That run helped Boras land Choo a monster seven-year, $130 million deal with the Rangers. The Yankees truly supplied $140 million for seven years, although Choo defined that the staff pulled it after signing Carlos Beltrán, earlier than he may even reply.

In every of the 4 seasons earlier than signing Choo, the Rangers had gained at the very least 90 video games, profitable pennants in 2010 and ’11, shedding the AL Wild Card Recreation in ’12, then shedding a Recreation 163 tiebreaker that would have given them a Wild Card berth in ’13. Sadly, each they and Choo took a drastic flip for the more severe in 2014. The staff misplaced 95 video games as its rotation collapsed and its two massive offseason acquisitions battled accidents. First baseman Prince Fielder was restricted to 42 video games attributable to surgical procedure for a herniated disc, whereas Choo performed in simply 123 video games, hitting .242/.340/.374 (100 OPS+) and netting zero WAR earlier than present process season-ending surgical procedures to take away a bone spur in his left elbow and restore cartilage in his left ankle.

Choo and the Rangers each bounced again in 2015; the staff took the AL West crown with 88 wins, and Choo hit .276/.375/.463 (125 OPS+) with 22 homers, although one other yr of defensive struggles (-11 DRS in proper discipline, his fourth straight yr with a double-digit destructive mark) restricted him to three.3 WAR. On July 21, 2015 at Coors Area towards the Rockies, he turned the primary Asia-born participant to hit for the cycle, along with his double and homer coming towards starter Kyle Kendrick.

Choo went 5-for-21 through the Rangers’ five-game Division Collection loss to the Blue Jays, with 4 of his hits — together with a go-ahead solo homer off Aaron Sanchez, half an inning earlier than the chaos that culminated with Jose Bautista’s three-run-homer and bat-flip — coming in Texas’ closing two defeats.

Age and accidents continued to take their toll. Calf, hamstring, and again accidents despatched Choo to the DL 3 times in 2016, limiting him to 48 video games, and whereas he returned to play 149 video games in 2017, he netted 1.0 WAR with a 100 OPS+ for these two seasons. A scorching six-week stretch in June and July of 2018 helped him make his solely All-Star staff, an honor that was lengthy overdue; lastly spending extra time at DH than within the outfield, he completed with a modest .264/.377/.434 (114 OPS+) line with 21 homers and a pair of.8 WAR. He set a brand new profession excessive with 24 homers in 2019, hitting the 2 hundredth of his profession on June 4 off the Orioles’ Dylan Bundy, however for the second yr in a row, he tailed off considerably within the second half. He completed with a 109 OPS+ and, with a career-worst -17 DRS in simply 81 video games within the outfield, simply 1.5 WAR.

When COVID-19 shut down the majors and minors within the spring of 2020, Choo donated $1,000 apiece to 190 Rangers minor leaguers, no strings connected, to assist them deal with the lack of their already-meager incomes. Across the similar time, he additionally pledged $200,000 to the Neighborhood Chest of Korea in Daegu for coronavirus reduction. When the abbreviated main league season started, a sprain in his proper wrist restricted Choo to 33 video games. He returned in time for the season’s closing sport, and beat out a bunt for a base hit in what was already deliberate to be his closing plate look with the Rangers… however sprained his left ankle tripping over first base. D’oh!

Whereas Choo sought a serious league contract for 2021 and had curiosity from as many as eight groups (a few of them contenders), in February 2021 he agreed to return to his house nation on a one-year cope with the SK Wyverns (quickly to be renamed the SSG Landers) of the KBO. “I wish to play in Korea as a result of I wish to play in entrance of my mother and father and I wish to give again to Korean followers,” he informed the Fort Price Star-Telegram’s Jeff Wilson. His contract, for two.7 billion gained (the equal of $2.4 million) was the biggest in KBO historical past, surpassing his outdated buddy Lee; as a part of the deal, he agreed to donate 1 billion gained to charity. The Wyverns had acquired the rights to Choo through a particular 2007 draft of gamers who had been abroad for 5 years. These rights can’t be traded, which prevented Choo from becoming a member of the Lotte Giants.

Choo ended up enjoying 4 years (his ages 38–41 seasons) for the Landers, hitting a mixed .262/.388/.423 (127 wRC+) whereas averaging 14 homers a yr. He helped the Landers end first within the 10-team league in 2022, then win the Korean Collection in six video games over the Kiwoom Heroes. Upon retiring, he joined the Landers’ entrance workplace as a particular assistant to the proprietor and head of participant growth.

Choo doesn’t have Corridor of Fame numbers, however among the many gamers who debuted on this century and have gathered at the very least 3,000 plate appearances, he’s fifteenth in on-base proportion. And whereas there have been simply 4 South Korea-born place gamers within the majors in 2025, specifically Ji Hwan Bae, Hyeseong Kim, Ha-Seong Kim, and Rob Refsnyder (KBO veteran Jung Hoo Lee was born in Japan whereas his father performed in NPB), Choo blazed the path, and opened the door to Main League Baseball just a bit wider.