Rays first baseman Ji-Man Choi did something yesterday that he’d never done in a big league game—he batted righthanded. And he hit a home run.
This is Choi’s fifth season in the majors and until now he’d always hit from the left side. His inability to hit lefthanded pitching mostly relegated him to platoon duty, though. In his first three seasons, he played 121 games but only had 31 plate appearances against lefties. The Rays gave Choi more opportunities against lefties last year, even starting him in 13 games against lefty starters, but he still struggled. He batted .