May 7, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds center fielder Shin-Soo Choo (17) reacts after hitting the game winning home run during the ninth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Great American Ball Park. The Reds defeated the Braves 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

Pinch-hitter Devin Mesoraco hit a 400 foot (looked more like about 389 to me) homer just past the reach of outfielder B.J. Upton to tie the game and allow Shin-Soo Choo the opportunity to display some heroics of his own.

Choo homered for the second time in the game and sent everyone at Great American Small Park home with the knowledge that they had just beaten the best closer in the National League, perhaps all of MLB (apologies to Mo). It was the eighth multi-home-run game of his career. He hit three against the Kansas City Royals in a game in 2010.

The way the former Reds-killer is swinging the bat, he could play defense as poorly as Max Carey and would still be a fans favorite.

He leads the National League in OBP with a mark of .465, followed by teammate Joey Votto at .463. In point of fact, his OBP is tied for the MLB lead with last year’s Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera. That sounds crazy with the way the team has been sputtering on offense at times this season.

Choo and Votto are also first and second in the league in hits with 42 and 41, respectively. They also rank first and second in runs created with 34.7 and 30.

Choo is tied with Carlos Gonzalez for the league lead in runs scored with 27. In OPS he is runner-up just behind Troy Tulowitzki. He is in second place also in extra base hits with 17. He leads the league in total bases with 74. He has been hit by a pitch 11 times, four more than the closest player to him. Oh, did I say he also leads the NL in OPS+ with 181? His WAR of 1.4 ties him for eighth in the league.

Can anyone say early MVP candidate?

It is not probable that he will continue to hit .333 and be tops in all of these categories all year, but you never know.

The 30-year old should also be called Mr. Clutch. He is batting a cool .400 with RISP and two outs. The worst inning for Choo this season has been the fifth. He is only hitting .250/.368/.313. As demonstrated last night, the ninth inning is where Mr. Choo shines. His line then is .714/.818/1.714 with an OPS of 2.532. Yes you read that correctly. In 11 PA in the ninth he has scored six runs, has two homers and five RBI with three walks and one HBP.

I don’t know if anybody contemplated the start that he would have with the Reds. I was very comfortable with him coming on just knowing how he demolished Reds’ pitching. Gonna go a little against the grain when I say this, but here goes…there is no reason why the Reds should not try to negotiate a deal with him to keep him for four or five years. No way Billy Hamilton could leadoff with Choo in the lineup.

Is he the best player in baseball? Of course not. Is he the best on the team? No, Joey Votto is. He still has trouble hitting lefties, and is much better at Great American Small Park than in the other venues. His defense is clearly nothing to write home about, but how could you complain with so much upside everywhere else?

A statistic that I have never seen anyone write or heard talk about is OWn%. It can be found on Baseball-Reference.com. Choo leads the NL in that category as well at .857. What that means is that a team with nine Choo’s batting on it would win 85.7 percent of their games. Woahh!

The man can flat-out rake. I need to stop now because all the big numbers have given me a trauma-style headache. Seriously, I think I heard something break up in there.

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In his first 21 games as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, Shin-Soo Choo is quickly becoming a fan favorite. (Photo: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports)

When the announcement was made of the three-team trade involving the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians and Arizona Diamondbacks in which the Reds acquired Shin-Soo Choo, there was a bit of a flinch from a portion of the Reds fanbase. One, highly touted shortstop prospect Didi Gregorius was sent to the D’backs. Two, despite the high number of strikeouts, Drew Stubbs, who went to Cleveland, had his fair share of supporters. Three, Choo will be a free agent after this season.

Twenty-one games into the 2013 season, I’m sure the vast majority of those that flinched at the deal aren’t doing that so much these days. All Choo has done is win over Reds fans at an alarming rate. Along the way, he has produced in the one spot in the Reds lineup that was deemed the blackest of holes: leadoff.

All Choo has done is produce. After going 2-for-4 in today’s Reds 1-0 win, he owns a triple slash of .392/.534/.608. They’re not quite video game numbers, but sometimes you think Choo’s just merely living in one. Aside from last night’s MLB action, here’s how Choo ranks in some prominent NL statistical categories…

Batting average: .392 – 2nd (Chris Johnson: .397)
OBP: .534 – 1st
SLG: .608 – 8th
OPS: 1.142 – 2nd (Justin Upton: 1.200)
Runs: 18 – T3
Hits: 31 – 1st
Walks: 14 – 4th
HBP: 10 – 1st

So the last one isn’t as prominent as the others, but those HBPs lead to the OBP. And the only reason Upton is ahead of Choo in OPS is because of Upton’s other-worldly SLG of .797. Of course, 11 homers can do that to your slugging percentage.

If you’re worried that he has 18 strikeouts, keep this in mind. Those 18 whiffs has his current SO% at 17.3%. Do I need to remind you what that rate was for Reds leadoff hitters last season? Well, it was 19.6% if you insist on knowing (148 SO in 756 PA).

For all of 2012, Choo’s SO% was 21.9% and in March/April of 2012, that was 22.2%. His walk rate this year is 13.5%. For the March/April of 2012, his BB% was 13.9% (a bit higher than this year), but finished the 2012 season at 10.6%.

Want a comparison? No, not going there about Stubbs either. The Tribe’s new leadoff hitter, Michael Bourn, had a SO% of 22.0% in 2012. His walk rate was 10.0%. Yes, I have noted these similarities before.

Back to the trade. I was a bit taken aback at the deal. It was more directed toward the fact that Choo had such a limited time as a leadoff hitter (98 games, but a nice sample size) plus the changing of leagues. For some players, that’s a tough ask. Choo had spent parts of eight season in the American League. Knows the pitchers, the ball parks, the stadiums, the clubhouses. Even with interleague play, there was still some familiarity that would be lost in the move.

And, add the position change to all of this. In the NL parks in which he had played, he was a right fielder. Aside from the one game debacle in St. Louis, there’s has been little else to complain about regarding his defense. He’s already nailed a runner at the plate and has exhibited a stinger arm than a few may have expected there. I will raise my hand on that one.

To say that Choo, which is what he prefers to be called if you take Reds broadcaster Chris Welsh at his word, has adapted to all this newness with flying colors is a vast understatement. To say his new city of Cincinnati has completely fallen for him might be on that same level if not greater. Probably could even beat Charlie Sheen in an election for mayor.

A bit of reality here. Reds fans shouldn’t expect Choo to maintain such a completely insane performance level. At times, it’s utterly ridiculous to watch – but in a good way.

And I thoroughly enjoy watching this ridiculousness…

• Shin-Soo Choo is batting .382 and has pretty much dominated the focal point of most Reds fodder. Why shouldn’t he? His .382 is baseball’s third best batting average. But even more impressive than his batting average, his .523 OBP leads all of baseball. He’s doing it for a Reds team that hovered around last place in this category from the lead-off spot all of last year. Drew Stubbs is sitting on an OBP of .344 in Cleveland.  That may have been useful, last year.
• Choo may be the topic of conversation, but the recent surge of the 2010 MVP hasn’t quite gone unnoticed. This past week Joey Votto hit .385, drove in four runs and homered twice, a promising sign for those still skeptical of Votto’s knee. But #19 isn’t far removed from his 2010 form. Shin-Soo Choo has MLB’s #1 OBP.  Joey Votto has its second. Treat your imagination and fathom the bloated offensive statistics Votto might have if he didn’t have 25 walks. By the way – David Wright is MLB’s #2 in BB. He has ten fewer walks and two less hits than Votto.
• A secret of Votto and Choo’s success? The two have seen more pitches this year than anyone else in baseball. Patience seems to be a common attribute among baseball’s best hitters.
• Mat Latos is in  MLB’s top ten strikeout leaders. What has traditionally been a painful month for Latos (career 4.92 ERA, 2-8 in April) has been pretty productive. Although he still doesn’t have a decision for the 2013 season, he hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any of his four starts.
• Tony Cingrani had a marginally impressive outing against the pedestrian Marlins. He recorded eight strikeouts and only allowed one run to the offensively challenged fish. He did amass a rather high pitch count – he finished with 102 pitches after going just five innings. It’s tough to assess Cingrani accurately  because of the opponent he faced, but fans had to be excited about the potential of having a strong starting left-handed option.