The Angels announced that first baseman Ji-Man Choi has rejected an outright assignment in favor free agency. The 25-year-old was designated for assignment back in late December when the Halos signed Ben Revere to a one-year deal.
Choi, who will turn 26 in May, was a Rule 5 pick out of the Orioles organization in 2015 (although he’d signed a minors deal in Baltimore just prior to being selected). The Angels designated him for assignment last May and retained him by outrighting him to Triple-A. Choi eventually made his way back to the big league roster but struggled in his first exposure to Major League pitching, hitting just .170/.271/.339 with five homers in 129 plate appearances.
While those numbers are unsightly, Choi did walk at a solid 12.4 percent clip in the Majors against a not-unreasonable 20.9 percent strikeout rate and a solid .170 isolated power mark. He also comes with a nice track record in Triple-A, where he’s slashed .304/.399/.446 with 13 homers in 627 plate appearances. Certainly, he’s not entering any sort of favorable market for first basemen and corner outfielders (he does have 349 minor league innings in left field as well), but his respectable minor league track record and somewhat encouraging K/BB numbers in the Majors should allow him to latch on elsewhere as a depth option.
If Chris Carter can’t get a job, I can’t imagine anybody signing Choi.
Pretty sure Carter isn’t asking for league minimum either.
Good point. But what Carter will actually sign for won’t break any team’s payroll, either.
True, but any team that signs Choi is likely looking for a cheap power bat that they can stash on the bench and use as a pinch hitter 1 start a week type player. Carter isn’t that.
Carter would be a much better option if that team was looking for a hitter. Choi couldn’t translate his minor’s success in the majors and was always a struggle to watch as a fan. He may eventually be a bench player full time in the bigs, but he’s nowhere close to the hitter Carter is (even if he strikes out half of the time).
Somebody will take a minor league flier on him
I hope the pirates get him on a minors deal. He probably won’t make the MLB team but would be valuable depth should the pirates make splash trade.. That AAA track record at the plate looks good and appears to be fairly solid at first.
Jason rogers cleared waivers and was outrighted to Indianapolis and should serve as AAA depth 1b behind bell, jaso and freese. Id imagine choi would try to sign somewhere with a better opportunity for playing time. My first thought was Colorado to be able to move Desmond around a bit more and not be a major payroll addition compared to someone like trumbo or napoli.
you are probably right about Choi going else where, just a hope on my part to get another cheap left handed 1B with some potential even if that potential is just depth 😉
Also a Bucs fan and I agree I would love to see them sign Chou. Sadly, I also agree that it’s unlikely and he would have a better shot at PT elsewhere
I always liked Choi when he was a Seattle prospect. He would be a nice depth piece for the Mets, although I can’t see him getting much of an opportunity at the big league level in NY.
Agreed. Would be nice to see Mets grab him.
He seems like a BBeane kinda guy though.
i saw what looks to be his only good game as a major leaguer when i was in california last august. his only multi-hit game, and it was a multi-homer game; he actually got robbed of a third home run on a great play by Khris Davis.
he could actually make sense for the Phillies if they dont sign Moss/Saunders, since he’s a left handed bat that could spell Joseph at first or play left- doesnt demand the playing time those guys would or obviously the $/committment, so he’s not in the way of younger players and can play him more if there are injuries or Joseph cant cut it.
a bench guy role.
I’d be down. Good on base guy, good character guy as well. Could be solid for the clubhouse.
Uh yeah. Good character? Does nobody remember this guy was recently suspended for 50 games?
It seems he’s looking for a mlb roster spot, right? So I’m not sure he’d sign with a team and then get shipped back to AAA
He probably won’t find one– Rafael Ortega did the same thing in November
Korea bound…..
I was thinking that too. Could probably command decent Won in the KBO and he will be back “home” too
Last season when Choi was with the Angels he hit his first major league home run. The rest of the team didn’t acknowledge it as he came back to the dugout as is a commonly practiced joke in MLB dugouts. Choi’s reaction was hilarious. He went up and down the dugout doing air high fives until the team finally congratulated him! He seemed like a good guy with a great sense of humor. Hope he catches on somewhere.
Would be nice if we could sign him to another minor league deal, but I am guessing he would have just accepted the outright… unless he can negotiate more money or an opt-out in May… something like that. A LH first baseman would be nice for the Halos depth, but it’s not a big hole.
I bet cowart and Marte will see plenty of time at 1b in spring training. Not exciting, but it’s what we’ve got.
Brewers and Bucs sound like good fits.
Good bye to you and your 170. Batting average.