[Baseball] Choo Set to Break Korean MLB Hit Record

Cleveland Indians outfielder Choo Shin-soo needs one hit to become the most productive Korean hitter in Major League Baseball of the United States.

Choo, 26, who bats third in the lineup, had a hit and two runs batted in a 6-4 home win over the Minnesota Twins Thursday. With 85 hits this season, he is one hit away from tying the most hits in a season by a Korean player in the U.S. majors.

Choi Hee-seop set the Korean mark of 86 in 2004 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Florida Marlins.

With the game tied 2-2 in the fifth inning, Choo drove in two runs with a double, recording his 53rd RBI of the season, the highest for a Korean player in the U.S. majors.

Choo’s batting average, however, dropped from .302 to .300 since he went 1-5.

In Kansas City, Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners tied a league record by recording 200 hits for the eighth straight year. He went 3-3, but his team lost to the Royals, 5-2.

Ichiro, who joined the U.S. majors in 2001, tied the 107-year record set by Willie Keeler.

In 2004, the Japanese player had 262 hits to break George Sisler’s record of 257 that had stood for 84 years.

Ichiro, who has a combined 3,070 hits in Japan and the U.S., is now 15 hits away from the Japanese hit record of 3,085 set by Korean-Japanese player Jang Hoon.