Chat with wife helped Rangers' Choo turn his season around
Shin-Soo Choo's time with the Texas Rangers has been marked with inconsistency - due to injuries and a lack of offensive production, he had yet to really show the Rangers that they made a good investment signing him to a lucrative free-agent deal before the 2014 season.
However, after starting 2015 slashing just .221/.305/.384 with 11 home runs and 38 RBI, Choo has exploded in the second half. Entering play Thursday, he's hitting .333/.449/.598 since the All-Star break, figures much more closely aligned to the type of offensive player he's always been.
As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News revealed after a recent interview with Choo, there's a reason for his turnaround: He was particularly inspired by a chat with his wife, Won Mi Ha.
Said Choo to Grant: "She is talking to me and she is saying that everybody’s life is like a building...She is telling me that you spend your life building this building. Some people build things very quickly and very tall, but it might not have a solid foundation. Some people might build their building on sand and when it shakes, it falls."
The importance, within that metaphor, lies in the foundation: "And she is telling me that I’ve built a very strong building, that, like everyone, it’s going to get shaken, but it is built on a solid foundation and that I shouldn’t try to change that. It will stand up sturdy.”
Choo explained to Grant that his wife's pep talk helped him focus on the day-to-day rather than the 'big picture', and that helped him at the plate. His manager, Jeff Banister, remarked that the change in Choo's approach has been notable: "I think we are seeing him play with confidence. We are seeing him play the brand of baseball that we need and we are seeing him smile when he does it."
With the Rangers playing their way into the AL Wild Card picture, a consistent Choo would be a major asset on offense down the stretch.
(h/t Dallas Morning News)
