Shin-Soo Choo could be good buy low candidate
By Matt Shetler
Big things were expected from Texas Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo this season, but similar to another Rangers big offseason acquisition in Prince Fielder, Choo’s first year in the Lone Star State has been a bit disappointing.
However I wouldn’t write Choo off just yet as the perennial on base machine monster could be in store for a decent second half.
Speaking of getting on base, Choo is still doing so at a very nice rate, but the rest of his numbers have suffered in a big way.
Choo’s .305 BABIP is below his career norm and judging by his three year averages, he may be in line to start seeing an increase with his batting average.
Oddly, Choo is struggling against right handed pitching this season, which if there is any hope for a big second half, which is the area where things should turn around.
Choo usually owns righties, but has only a .285 BABIP against them in 2014, which is almost a hundred points below his three year average.
If that improves, which his resume says it likely will, Choo should improve his paltry .244 average over the next three months.
However, while I am confident that will happen, I’m not so confident that the power and speed will be there at the end of the year.
Choo has only three steals on the season so getting to 20 will be near impossible, meaning that the power/speed combo that usually makes Choo so attractive to fantasy owners simply isn’t there this season.
But if the average picks up like I think it should, he also is likely to hit a few more homers the rest of the season so if Choo catches fire I can see him coming close to 20 homers by the end of the year.
That alone makes him an interesting guy to both buy and sell on the rest of the way.
If you own Choo now, you won’t get draft day value for him, but he is a guy that you potentially could look to move in hopes that someone overpays.
If you don’t own Choo I would recommend buying low on him as I really do feel a hot streak is coming and he is the type of player that could do some nice things for your fantasy team the rest of the way.