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Rangers want Choo to ramp it up on bases

ARLINGTON -- Leadoff man Shin-Soo Choo has quickly lived up to his reputation as a hitter who knows how to get on base -- his .475 on-base percentage led the Rangers and was seventh-best in the American League entering Friday's game against Houston -- and now manager Ron Washington would like to see Choo take more advantage of his opportunities on the basepaths.

Since getting caught in a rundown between third and home in the third game of the season, Choo hasn't made any major baserunning errors, but Washington believes he may be a touch too tentative. "All we can do is let him know that we believe in aggressive baserunning," Washington said.

"He'll finally figure it out. He's in a new environment and the guy maybe doesn't want to make mistakes, but you can't play the game of baseball without making mistakes. … Just learn from whatever bad running mistakes you make and don't repeat them and we'll live with it. I think pretty soon you'll see him start to loosen up on the basepaths."

At the plate, Choo is giving the Rangers what they hoped for when they signed him to a seven-year, $130 million contract during the offseason. Entering Friday he led the club with seven walks and his 11 hits were second behind Alex Rios.

Choo said he hasn't given his strong start much thought, however.

"It's just too early," Choo said. "I'm not thinking about every 10 games, I'm thinking about every pitch. Hopefully I'll play well, hopefully I'll stay healthy the whole season, but I think when people talk about numbers, it's too early for that. At the end of [each] at-bat, I want to sit in the dugout and say I had a great at-bat, that's all I want."

Dave Sessions is a contributor to MLB.com.
Read More: Texas Rangers, Shin-Soo Choo