Out of the Park, times twenty

Choo Shin-soo's achievement can be summed up in three numbers: .300, 20 20.

The Korean batter for the Cleveland Indians has become the first Asian in Major League Baseball to hit 20 home runs, make 20 steals and hit a .300 batting average in a single season. Playing in his first full season in his Major League career, Choo hit 20 home runs and made 21 steals to become the only player in the American League to pass: .300/20/20.

With a sizeable number of hitters recording over 40 home runs in a season, recording 20-20 might not seem like much to some. However, only 11 other players achieved the feat this year,
and in the history of the Indians, dating back to 1901, Choo is only the eighth.

The left-handed 27-year-old is also the first Asian. Some of the best Asian positional players in the MLB, including Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners, Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees
and Kosuke Fukudome of the Chicago Cubs, failed to make it to the magic numbers. Ichiro came closest, in 2005, hitting 15 homers and recording 33 steals, and while Matsui has regularly hit
over 20 home runs, he lacks running speed, and his single season best steals total is only four.

With 21 stolen bases, Choo was at 19 home runs when he knocked one out of Fenway Park on Oct. 4 over Boston's "Green Monster." Choo's towering tworun homer in the top of the seventh
inning smashed a 138-kilometer-perhour (86-mile-per-hour) outside fastball from Paul Byrd of the Red Sox.

"As I got closer to reaching 20 home runs, I became fixated on reaching the goal and focused on pulling the ball. My batting coach advised me to try to hit towards the opposite field, and it was a huge help," said Choo in a post-game interview.

It was the Indians' second-to-last game of the season. The right fielder had hit his 19th home run of the season five days earlier, on Sept. 29 against the Chicago White Sox. In reaching the
20-20 mark in his first season as a starter, Choo also finished with 86 RBI.

Appearing in the third and cleanup spot in the Cleveland batting order during the season, Choo topped the team in home runs, stolen bases and RBI.

The Busan native signed with the Seattle Mariners after leading Korea to a title and earning the Most Valuable Player and Best Pitcher awards at the 2000 World Junior Baseball Championship
in Edmonton, Canada. He was converted to an outfielder, and although he made his MLB debut on April 21, 2005, he spent much of the 2005 and 2006 season in the minor leagues until being
traded to the Indians along with Shawn Nottingham for first baseman Ben Broussard on July 26, 2006.

Choo showed flashes of his current self in 2007, but underwent Tommy John surgery on his elbow in September of 2007. After missing a chunk of the 2008 season, Choo had a hot September in which he hit .400, five home runs and 24 RBI to earn the American League
Player of the Month award and finish the season with a .309, 14 home runs and 66 RBI.

Choo was rewarded with a one-year contract in the off-season, and it is expected the Indians will try to lock up the right fielder with a lengthy and lucrative deal.

By Jason Kim