Ji-Man Choi

32-Year-Old First Baseman1B

Free Agent

2023 Stats

AVG

.163

RBI

Rest-of-Season Projections

AVG

RBI

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2023 Fantasy Outlook

If Choi were allowed to face Gerrit Cole every at bat, Choi would be a first round selection as he is somehow a lifetime .417/.533/.917 hitter against Cole in 30 plate appearances and a .236 hitter against the rest of the league over his career. Choi was a cult hero with the Tampa Bay fan base for his moments against Cole as well as some other timely hits and and animated celebrations, but injuries and the inability to do anything against lefties limited his value. His production fell off a cliff in the second half of last season, so the hope is he can revive some fantasy value in NL-Only formats with regular playing time in Pittsburgh. If the Pirates allow him to face lefties, the batting average will never get over .240, but Choi has one of the more discernable eyes at the plate in the league making him more valuable in OBP formats. This is not a player you want seeing 500 plate appearances in 2023, but one who can still provide some streaming value in-season when the projected matchups are loaded with righty pitchers. Read Past Outlooks

RANKSFrom Preseason

#562

ADP

Overall

Bats L

Throws R

40 Man No

Height 6'1"

Weight 260

DOB 5/19/1991

Born Incheon, South Korea

College None

Drafted 2009 SEA

On bench for finale

1BSan Diego Padres

October 1, 2023

Choi is out of the lineup for Sunday's game versus the White Sox.

ANALYSIS
Choi has a .377 OPS in 37 plate appearances since being acquired by the Padres and will hit the bench for the final game of the season. He's in his final year of arbitration eligibility and will be a free agent this winter.

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Batting Stats

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2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2023 MLB Game Log

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2022 MLB Game Log

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2021 MLB Game Log

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2020 MLB Game Log

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2019 MLB Game Log

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2018 MLB Game Log

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2017 MLB Game Log

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Minor League Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2021

+29%

OPS vs RHP

2023

+49%

OPS vs RHP

2022

+1%

OPS vs RHP

2021

+60%

OPS vs RHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021vs Left	.587	157	12	1	18	0	.214	.287	.300
Since 2021vs Right	.758	684	72	27	92	0	.223	.339	.419
2023vs Left	.445	22	2	1	4	0	.105	.182	.263
2023vs Right	.664	95	10	5	9	0	.176	.253	.412
2022vs Left	.723	57	5	0	9	0	.294	.351	.373
2022vs Right	.730	362	31	11	43	0	.223	.340	.390
2021vs Left	.526	78	5	0	5	0	.186	.269	.257
2021vs Right	.843	227	31	11	40	0	.245	.374	.468
More Splits→	View More Split Stats

Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2021

+2%

OPS on Road

2023

+24%

OPS at Home

2022

+5%

OPS on Road

2021

+4%

OPS on Road

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021Home	.719	416	47	12	60	0	.223	.337	.383
Since 2021Away	.730	425	37	16	50	0	.220	.322	.408
2023Home	.691	59	8	3	8	0	.180	.271	.420
2023Away	.559	58	4	3	5	0	.148	.207	.352
2022Home	.711	206	19	5	31	0	.227	.330	.381
2022Away	.747	213	17	6	21	0	.239	.352	.394
2021Home	.742	151	20	4	21	0	.234	.371	.371
2021Away	.772	154	16	7	24	0	.224	.325	.448
More Splits→	View More Split Stats

Stat Review

How does Ji-Man Choi compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.29

BB Rate

8.5%

K Rate

29.9%

BABIP

.169

ISO

.221

AVG

.163

OBP

.239

SLG

.385

OPS

.624

wOBA

.273

Exit Velocity

93.4 mph

Hard Hit Rate

42.3%

Barrels/PA

12.0%

Expected BA

.237

Expected SLG

.493

Sprint Speed

22.3 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

40.8%

Line Drive %

19.7%

Fly Ball %

39.4%

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

Games By Position

Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2022

2021

2020

2019

2017

2015

Choi appeared in 83 games during 2021 and hit .229/.348/.411 with 11 homers, 14 doubles, 45 RBI and 36 runs in 305 plate appearances. He should see plenty of time at first base, especially with Yandy Diaz likely to see more time at third base following the departure of Joey Wendle.

Choi has seemingly found a home in Tampa Bay after bouncing around the league in waiver-wire purgatory. A player with splits issues and a good personality is a great fit for the way Tampa Bay constructs a roster, especially when they play decent defense. Choi has been an above-average bat against righty pitching each of the past three seasons, although this most recent one was his worst of the bunch. He does not hit lefties, and even tried switch hitting for a bit in 2020 to solve that. He works a quality at-bat with a discerning eye, and will accept walks which helps in OBP leagues, but the cap on his playing time due to his issues against lefties makes him very tough to roster in shallower mixed leagues. Expect more of the same in 2021, as the Rays are unlikely to make any adjustments to their roster which would push Choi off the bag at first.

Choi's last two seasons have been similar, with the difference being the move from homer-embellishing Miller Park to power-suppressing Tropicana Field. Choi improved his K% and BB% last season. His average exit velocity is consistently around the 85th percentile, fueling a reasonable batting average floor and moderate power, capped by a slightly-below-average flyball rate. Some platoon hitters can't hit same-side pitching, others aren't given enough reps to find out if they can. Choi's career 127 wRC+ facing right-handers is nearly double his 64 wRC+ mark against southpaws, but he only has 125 career plate appearances against left-handers, just over 10% of what's necessary to say the player owns his splits. However, the Strat-O-Matic Rays aren't the right organization to give Choi more same-side at-bats, restricting his fantasy value to deeper mixed leagues and AL-only formats.

Would you believe Choi's average exit velocity bested the likes of Anthony Rizzo, Edwin Encarnacion, Cody Bellinger and Nolan Arenado? Choi began the season in Milwaukee, and was designated for assignment at the same time Tampa Bay had decided to move on from 2017 surprise Brad Miller and his terrible defense. The two clubs swapped players and Choi became the 2018 version of Miller as he was a big part of the club's summer surge that kept them in contention a lot longer than anyone imagined. Choi hit .269/.370/.506 with Tampa Bay in 189 plate appearances, and C.J. Cron's departure this offseason gives Choi the leg up on the primary DH role for 2019. Choi should sit against all lefties whenever possible, so plan on a 475-plate-appearance ceiling for him, which makes him more of a single-league target.

The Angels selected Choi in the Rule 5 draft last offseason due to his strong ability to get on base, and the early returns on their investment were mixed. Despite a middling performance during spring training, the first baseman did manage to break with the major league club, but he was sent off the 40-man roster after going just 1-for-18 over the first month and a half of the season. He continued to hammer minor league pitching, which earned him a ticket back to the majors in July, but he was only able to muster a .170/.271/.339 slash line by season's end. The 25-year-old did walk 12.4 percent of the time in the big leagues but he also struck out over 20 percent of the time. If Choi can begin hitting major league pitchers like he hits minor leaguers, he could garner a second look now that he's a member of the Yankees organization. However, with Greg Bird and Tyler Austin expected to amass the most time at first base and Matt Holliday slated to DH, Choi seems like the odd man out and could spend 2017 in an organizational depth role once more.

Choi was suspended 50 games last April for failing a PED test. He doesn't have much in the way of raw power, but the 23-year-old has outstanding plate discipline. In 70 games at Triple-A Tacoma last season, Choi walked 36 times against 42 strikeouts. He's posted strong walk rates and low strikeout rates most of his minor-league career, and he makes excellent contact as well. Still, he would need a big spring to land a roster spot to begin 2015.

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Sitting Friday

1BSan Diego Padres

September 29, 2023

Choi isn't in the Padres' lineup Friday against the White Sox.