Fantasy Baseball 2018: Why is Shin-Soo Choo Undervalued?

Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo has been a constant source of power and speed throughout his career, yet is widely undervalued.

The Texas Rangers have addressed their starting pitching needs this offseason. With the offense they have, the team has playoff and World Series aspirations. One player that has held up his part of the offense over the last few years is outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. Yet, fantasy rankers constantly undervalue him.

Choo has been around for 13 years, spending most of his career with the Cleveland Indians before signing with the Rangers in before the 2014 season. He didn’t play much early in his career but has developed into a reliable fantasy option with good power and contact.

Over a 162-game season, Choo averages 21 home runs, 79 RBI and .278. He also averages 16 steals with 150 strikeouts and 84 walks. Those are solid numbers and are worthy of 100 percent ownership in any league. Both Brad Kelly and I wrote about Choo being underowned throughout the 2017 season.

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Choo played in 149 games, his most since 2013. He finished with 22 home runs, 78 RBI and a .261 average. Choo also stole another 12 bases in 15 attempts with 134 strikeouts, 77 walks and a .357 on-base percentage.

While his strikeout rate is in the low 20s, the 12.0 career walk rate helps balance his OBP. Choo likes to spread the ball around, 39.6 pull, 34.7 center and 25.7 oppo hit percentages.

He has also lowered his ground ball rate over the last couple of seasons, going from 49.7 percent in 2012 to 48.8 last year. It was as high as 50.9 percent in 2015.

Choo is a patient hitter, averaging a 9.7 swinging strike and 42.4 swinging percentage for his career. He does not swing at a lot of pitches outside of the strike zone and when he does swing, he makes contact almost 77 percent of the time.

Choo went undrafted in ESPN leagues with a 260.0 ADP. He did play in just 48 games in 2016 games so it makes sense that fantasy owners would avoid him on draft day. Though, as the season progresses, you would think he would get more attention but that never happened.

At the end of the season, Choo finished as the 35th best outfielder on the Player Rater. The combination of power, good contact and some speed put him ahead of other outfielders, like Adam Jones, A.J. Pollock and Eric Thames.

However, fantasy experts continue to rank Choo lower than what his numbers project. Fantasy Pros ranks Choo as the No. 71 outfielder and 188th overall. If I can get a player of Choo’s caliber, 20 home runs, double-digit steals and a .260 average, that late in the draft would be great.

Next: Draft AJ Ramos over Jeurys Familia

Choo is a consistent outfielder that contributes to all offensive categories. Drafting 20 HR/75 RBI/15 SB/.265 in the 20th round is rare. There were some underdrafted that put up the same numbers, however, it’s hard to know which players will do it this season. Knowing Choo is right there for you is a relief late in drafts.

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