Choi Embracing Dual Role With Pirates

Two weeks into Pittsburgh’s MLB season, Ji Man Choi appears to be comfortable with his Pirates role. With Pittsburgh in second place with a 7-4 record, there is an excitement felt in southwest Pennsylvania with baseball fans not experienced in several years. Losing 100 ball games last season is a distant memory for most Pirates fans.

Eleven games into the new season, less than three weeks since packing up from spring training in Bradenton, and the Pirates are the talk of the game. It is an enjoyable time to be with the club. The spending, and wheeling and dealing executed this past off-season by general manager Ben Cherington is the difference between the same old Pirates, to now thinking they can win each game club.

Choi is among the mix that separates mediocre (2022 season) from a contender this season. Granted, the 2023 season is in its infancy. But having Choi’s name scribbled on manager Derek Shelton’s lineup card as either at first base or designated hitter, the native of Incheon, South Korea is a contributor to the hot start to the season.

When the Pirates traded for Choi last November from the Rays for minor league pitcher Jack Hartman, the club knew they were getting a reliable bat. Now, in his eighth year in the game, after stops with the Angels, Yankees, Brewers, and most recently five productive seasons in Tampa, Choi’s switch-hitting bat was what drove the deal to be done.

The 2022 .233 batting average did not scare off Cherington from pulling the trigger on the Choi trade. During spring training, between workouts at LECOM Park, speaking through his interpreter Daniel Park, Choi seemed upbeat about what the new surroundings for him this season could mean for his career.

"I rehabbed my elbow. Nothing changed in how I approach the game.“

The minor procedure Choi refers to took place last November when loose bodies were removed from his right elbow.

Leaving Tampa where he had played for the longest tenure so far in his MLB career, Choi admits, emotionally, it was a tough transition. He tells of Rays’ manager Kevin Cash and Erik Neander (president of baseball operations) sending him heartfelt text messages of gratitude.

There was communication from the Rays’ coaching staff, all wishing Choi the best with Pittsburgh. When word reached Choi of his being traded, he tells of being nervous, and excited at the same time. He says, through Park, that he could not wait for the first game of the regular season.

Be it as the designated hitter or playing first base and fellow newcomer to the Pirates Carlos Santana, a 14-year veteran with 280 home runs registered, penciled in whichever role Choi is not playing, the Pirates have these two important roles covered so far.

When first reporting to Pirate City at the start of spring training, Choi and Santana’s lockers were only separated by four stalls. Both seem to "get it,“ as to their dual roles and how their success can translate into exciting results for the club.

Along with other Pirate acquisitions this past off-season Austin Hedges, Andrew McCutcheon, and Rich Hill, Choi is an early difference-maker in the club’s success.

As Shelton’s next man up, strictly hitting or covering the first base line, Choi shows he is starting the season off feeling like he is among friends. Beginning the regular season on the road for 10 days, after a 31-game spring training schedule, bonding for Choi with his new surroundings and faces has taken the shine off any unknowns with the Pirates.

The resurgence of the Pirates, from being looked upon as door mats in the NL Central to St. Louis and Milwaukee, very well may be outdated permanently. The season is young, but so are the Pirates. Choi is playing like the leader Cherington and Shelton searched for.