The return of Choi Ji-man (32, San Diego Padres), who left due to injury, is slowing down. He dreamed of taking a leap forward by changing teams, but he is crying due to terrible bad luck.
On the 15th (Korean time), Ji-Man Choi started as the designated hitter in the home game against the Albuquerque Isotopes (Colorado Rockies) for the El Paso Chihuahuas, a Triple-A team under San Diego, and went silent with no hits in five at-bats and one strikeout.
Choi Ji-man, who is in rehabilitation after an injury, is having a hard time with a batting average of 0.160 (4 hits in 25 at-bats) in the 7 games he played for El Paso this season.스포츠토토
Terrible bad luck continues. Ji-Man Choi, who developed his dream of playing in the big league in the Seattle Mariners minor league team in 2010, first entered the Major League (MLB) with the Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Angels, and later went through the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers before settling down with the Tampa Bay Rays in the middle of 2018. .
He had a career-high season in 2019 with a batting average of 0.261 and 19 home runs, but he was unable to overcome his weakness as a left-handed pitcher and had limited opportunities in a strictly platoon system.
Choi Ji-hwan, who moved to Pittsburgh after last season, worked with Bae Ji-hwan. He was quiet at the beginning of the season, but he increased his potential by hitting home runs in consecutive games, but was sidelined for about two months due to an Achilles tendon injury on his left foot.
Afterwards, he returned and hit a home run against Shohei Ohtani (LAA), hitting hard with a batting average of 0.268 and OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.929 in July, but was suddenly traded to San Diego.
He went downhill again with his new team. Although he walked five times, he went 0-for-11 and failed to produce a hit.
Meanwhile, he was hampered by injury again. Choi Ji-man, who was placed on the injured list due to a rib injury on the 15th of last month, bowed his head after being hit in the foot by a batted ball during a rehabilitation game on the 6th while preparing for his return.
Fortunately for him, it doesn’t seem to be a big problem and he is playing consistently, but he hasn’t quite regained his hitting feel.
This season is a very important season for Choi Ji-man. Choi Ji-man, who received an annual salary of 3.2 million dollars (4.2 billion won) last year, signed with Pittsburgh for 4.65 million dollars (6.1 billion won) this year after going through the pain of going to the salary adjustment committee. However, this also fell short of the $5.4 million (7.1 billion won) that Ji-Man Choi wanted.
In order to hit the free agent jackpot, he had to play this season in good health and show better results than before, but it is difficult to make an optimistic outlook so far.
The San Diego Union Tribune, a local media outlet in San Diego, said on the 14th, “Ji-Man Choi has been consistently participating in rehabilitation games in El Paso, but is not showing much performance. He was placed on the injured list due to a rib injury, and is continuing rehabilitation due to fears of an injury to his right foot. “There is,” he said.
San Diego ranks 4th in the NL West with 69 wins and 78 losses, and is far behind in the wild card competition, making it difficult to look forward to fall baseball. Although he needs to at least show performance that increases his value in the remaining 15 games, the reality is that even his immediate return to the big league cannot be guaranteed.