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The Tampa Bay Rays have been known for their creativity and for being opportunistic. Most recently, they pioneered the “opening” pitch strategy that has since spread throughout the league. Tampa Bay’s last trick is to turn its players into change hitters.
On Sunday afternoon against the Blue Jays (GameTracker), left-handed hitter Ji-Man Choi turned around and right-footed against Toronto left-hander Anthony Kay. Choi struck out on his first at-bat at right, but went deep the next time. It was also a bomb. Statcast has him at 429 feet and 110 mph from the bat. As a left-hander, Choi did not hit a ball over 100.7 mph in 2019.
To be clear, Choi hit with the right hand did not happen randomly on Sunday. He played with him during batting practice at summer camp, and he changed the hit a little bit in the minors years ago. But it wasn’t until Sunday that Choi hit with the right hand in a major league game. The Rays were not expected to let him hit correctly in the regular season, so apparently something has changed.
“I really don’t expect that to happen in any way,” manager Kevin Cash told reporters, including Juan Toribio of MLB.com, earlier this month. “I just think about where he is in his career from a confidence point of view, he’s willing to waste time. We have the opportunity in this environment to work at some point.”
Choi, 29, hit .274 / .377 / .492 against right-handed pitchers last season but only .210 / .309 / .321 against left-handers as a left-handed hitter. Truth be told, the Rays really don’t need him hitting lefties. José Martínez and even Yandy Díaz are available as right-handed platoon partners. But hey, if Choi can make it work, why not? It sure worked on Sunday.
“I’m the best hitter on the team, so it’s not surprising … Just kidding,” Choi joked to reporters, including Toribio, when asked why he was hitting correctly at summer camp.
