Longtime major league outfielder Shin-Soo Choo is joining the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization, Tae Woo Kim of SPOTV reports (h/t: Sung Min Kim, on Twitter). He’ll earn $2.4MM in 2021, Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net tweets.
This is a homecoming for the 38-year-old Choo, a South Korea native who played in the majors with the Mariners, Reds, Indians and Rangers from 2005-20. His greatest long-term success came in Cleveland, where the on-base machine batted .292/.383/.463 with 83 home runs and 85 stolen bases in 2,932 plate appearances. But Choo was also an above-average performer in Cincinnati and Texas, evidenced in part by the one-time All-Star’s lifetime .275/.377/.447 line with 218 HRs, 157 steals and 35.4 fWAR over 7,157 trips to the plate.
The 2020 campaign was the last season of the seven-year, $130MM guarantee Choo signed with the Rangers before 2014, and it was his worst offensive effort for the club. Choo hit .236/.323/.400 with five homers in 127 PA, dividing his time between the corner outfield and designated hitter.
Choo has had difficulty in the field throughout his career (minus-68 Defensive Runs Saved, minus-36.4 Ultimate Zone Rating), and with his age and fading offensive numbers also factored in, it appeared he would have trouble landing a guaranteed major league deal in free agency. He’s now heading back to his native country for the largest single-season payday in KBO history, per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News.
That’s a pretty good salary compared to the minors deal he’d likely receive in the US.
Isn’t that the new team in Walla Walla?
What is the new name? The “Walla Wall Pretty Good Salaries?”
Lol no the Walla Walla SK Wyverns.
That owl mascot the Wyverns have is awesomeness embodied.
The owl is a mascot for the Wyverns? I guess the dragon outfit was problematic-the tail kept knocking the fans’ drinks over.
Some KBO teams are known for having more than one costumed character. I think the NC Dinos have like 3 dinosaurs stalking around the stadium.
Always enjoyed watching him play, best of luck to you Chooooo
Heading home to roost, a great idea. Excellent major league career. Really enjoyed his efforts when he was with Clev.
Long career, a good signing from Japan much better than Ichiro
Yeah, Choo ain’t Japanese and he ain’t better than Ichiro, troll
That isn’t even arguable-Luc2 may have posted that while suffering from hypoxia. It does seem like Choo was the best Korean hitter in MLB history.
That was the whole joke LMAO, people are soft on MLBTR i’m not that dumb, and I said Japense because most people Ik assume that players from Asia are Japenese.
@Luc 2 You may say your original post was a joke, but if no one laughs at your “joke” or shared your sentiment about it, then it is not a joke. It would be just an idiotic comment, and I think that’s how others are interpreting it based on how many thumbs ups that replies from other users got and you didn’t get any.
yikes that’s a bad look
I don’t know about that. Ichiro only started playing in the US until he was 27. He had great numbers for his 1st 10 years. Led all of MLB in hits 7 seasons. His year 38 year and beyond took away from his career numbers. Different type of hitters but Ichiro had ~25 higher WAR than Choo for their careers.
Your mom called. They like your siblings better.
I don’t think he got a good offer so that’s why he signed in kbo
Baseball Boy, well yeah I’m sure if a team offered him $8MM he would of stuck around. But he’s probably well aware of his circumstances; age, playing ability, where the league is at, etc. Not a bad way to end a career but in the homeland it all started.
You make a good point. But any time someone uses the silly “would of” phrasing instead of “would’ve,” makes me shake my head. I know-I’m a grumpy grammar guy.
Choo is one of my favorites ever; glad he’s able to play back at home again. He’s a legend in South Korea.
I’m glad he can end his career playing in his home country
[salutes]
(Canadian anthem plays)
“Wait, that’s biased.”
What choo talking about?
I miss Dontrelle Willis.
Bridges is the only one from the main cast that is still alive from that show
:/
One of the more underrated players of the 2000s-2010s always a big fan of choo choo
100%. amazing it took so long for him to make an all star game.
I wonder how long he can last, if he choo-choo-chooses to play for as long as he can? Kosuke Fukudome left MLB after 2012 and returned to Japan. He played last year at age 43. In December, he resigned for 2021.
And yes, I know Choo is Korean.
2020 is pretty old…
Lol. I was able to edit it in time. Good catch though.
i wouldnt be shocked if he’s not writing off a return to the MLB in 2022. not likely, but perhaps is simply looking for regular ABs. should be able to hit like no one else even at his age there.
Wow, I had no idea Fukodome was still playing professional baseball. Thanks for sharing that, that’s a name I haven’t heard in a very long time.
also, this begs the question – is he MLB’s best player from South Korea? numbers would say it’s not even close. certainly the best hitter.
Of course he is. But Chan Ho Park was no slouch.
Just ask Tim Belcher’s head
Hyun Jin Ryu is arguably better. Just obviously hasn’t done it nearly as long
@Truth
Tell Park, Fernando Sr said hi.
This is probably the end of the line for Choo in the Major Leagues. While it can be argued that Texas probably overpaid for Choo he was a solid contributor and a fun player to watch
Choo got a MASSIVE deal for a KBO team. Also, the SK Wyverns were sold to Shinsegae recently for $122 million and rumors are that the SK Wyverns will now be called the SSG Electros instead. Choo has just gotten a bigger contract than Dustin Nippert had gotten after his KBO MVP season where he went 22-3 in 2016 and larger than what Hyeon Jong Yang had earned in 2020 after leading the KBO with a 2.29 ERA in 184 2/3 IP. It’s likely that the team is seeking more foreign attention and more foreign fans in addition to jersey sales that will likely skyrocket for them.
as cool as “Electros” is, id hate to see “Wyverns” go by the wayside.
Very true, but that will likely remain the case unless the KBO continues to expand to perhaps 11 or 12 teams (12 would make the KBO more like the NPB). SK sold the team in part due to financial losses in 2020 because of COVID 19. SK/SSG should be better than they were in 2020 since they’ll have an improved rotation over Ricardo Pinto, a very injured Nick Kingham, Seung-won Moon (who was easily their best starting pitcher), Jong-hun Park who walked too many batters but led SK in IP, and a hodgepodge of others including Geun-wook Lee. Assuming a five man rotation they’ll have Wilmer Font, Arthur Lewicki, Moon, Park and Lee in the rotation with Jamie Romak, Jeong Choi, hopefully a healthy Yoo-seom Han and free agent addition Joo-hwan Choi as solid hitters in the lineup. They could compete for a playoff spot in 2021 in the KBO.
Peart, sounds like a true student of the game. I guess I’ll take your word for it.
Thanks for the update on this! I probably watched 80 full kbo games last year and really got into it. Shame that they are getting rid of the Wyverns….YouTube clips of their pregame show prior to covid was epic!
“Shin-Soo Choo is going above and beyond to help the organization’s minor leaguers during the shutdown. According to the South Korean sports site Naver Sports, Choo is giving all 190 minor leaguers in the organization $1,000 each during the shutdown.”
Class act and a very good ballplayer. Best of luck to him back home.
Choo was actually my first – and only – autograph. Me and a friend went to the ballpark in Arlington years ago and Choo was the only one out there signing autographs for all the 10 year olds out there in the Texas summer heat. I managed to talk to him for a minute, but man is he just a class act.
Rangers29 – only ballpark auto I ever got was from the Big Unit. Second to last game of the year, Snakes were in Milwaukee. Middle of the game, Johnson ran out to shag balls from the infield. My cousins and I were right behind the visiting team dugout. He yelled up to us “kids, gotta sharpie?” And we all crapped our pants. He signed a ball for each of us. Schilling came over and Randy asked him if he’d sign. Schilling said “no thanks” in a much more unsavory, less censored way. Randy threw up his batting gloves, told us he wouldn’t be using them tonight, and told us that if his team lost, he’d be asking for the signatures back. Well lo and behold, Jeromy Burnitz walked off the Diamondbacks. As the fans were celebrating, Randy came out of the dugout, reached over top of the dugout, and asked for them back. My one cousin started crying, Randy started laughing and gave him a bat. Seriously nice guy.
TL/DR – The Big Unit is a nice guy, Curt Schilling will always be a turd.
That’s amazing. I wasn’t lucky enough to ever see the Big Unit in person, but I’ve heard a lot of really good things about him. Yours is yet another good thing. He can be marked down as one of the class acts of the game along with the likes of Clemente and Choo (tons of others as well, those two just come to mind).
In fact, I just heard a Big Unit story the other day that was fascinating as well. At his house, if an intruder ever came in while he was in bed, he didn’t keep a gun in his nightstand… he kept a bucket of baseballs there lmao. So if an intruder came into his house in the middle of the night, they’d be met with a Randy Johnson fastball to the head. Goodnight lol.
We were lucky growing up in Wisconsin in the late 90’s. Lots of good players we got to see in Milwaukee and Appleton. Got to see Clemens pitch, Pujols a ton when he was The Machine, Bonds hit a couple dingers, and a bunch more I can’t remember. I was a little too young to see A-Rod when he was with the Foxes, though. The Mariners came to Appleton all the time, they used to play exhibition games up there with the Rattlers. One time, the game got rained out, and they decided to have a long ball contest. Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez hit a bunch. But they lost to the first baseman for the Rattlers. No one knew who he was, but he ended up being a pretty good ball player. That guy was David Ortiz.
Too bad none of them played for the Crew.
Cool player with a unique skill set. Wish him the best.
I hope Choo comes back to the majors as a hitting coach.
After a year in ROK, he’ll be back. Everyone wants to go home. Then it doesn’t take long to remember why they left.
How amazing were the Choo and Hamilton contracts? Look how good Texas and the Angels have been since.
Choo played in more post-season games with the Rangers than Trout has with the Angels and that was even after Texas re-acquired Hamilton. Choo at least contributed in Texas. Hamilton in Anaheim, not so much
Choo is one of the most humble and hardworking players in the game I wish nothing but the best for him and I hope to see him back in the mlb in a year
Great MLB career and fun to watch!
At the last Rangers fan fest before covid Choo just started signing extra autographs after his signing slot was over. He just randomly started signing for people who were walking by and taking pictures with them. He signed my hat from the DC All Star game in which he was the only Rangers player. Such an awesome guy.
Wonder why he decided on the Wyverns. They were easily the worst team in KBO last season and it wasn’t close. If he went to the Bears or Giants they would be a powerhouse for
I totally forgot that Choo had started his career with Seattle. Was aways a fan of Choo.