Rays’ Ji-Man Choi makes right move in trying switch hitting

ST. PETERSBURG — Ji-Man Choi had tried switch-hitting as a minor-leaguer earlier in his career, going 6-for-14 hitting right-handed in 2015 at Triple A. He would start batting practice the last couple of seasons swinging right-handed at times, “just messing around,” before going back to his natural lefty swing. After manager Kevin Cash brought it up in conversation during Spring 2.0 camp, Choi took it a little further, taking a few at-bats in a simulated game right-handed.

Then Sunday, in his 251st big-league game, Choi did it when it counted.

And he was quite a hit.

After the Blue Jays switched from righty starter Thomas Hatch to lefty Anthony Kay, Choi switched batter’s boxes. In the third inning, he struck out on four pitches, and didn’t feel all that great doing so.

But he came back up in the sixth and delivered, crushing a 90 mph fastball from Kay over the fence left of centerfield, a blast estimated at 429 feet with an exit velocity of 110 mph. (A combo he never reached as a lefty, per StatCast.)

“Incredible,” Rays centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier said. “He did it years ago in the minors and for him to pick it up in a major-league game and hit a homer to the big part of the field like he did today, I don’t have a comment for it. It is truly incredible. If anyone can do it, it’s Ji-Man. He is a man of many talents.”

Choi said he didn’t put a lot of thought into making the switch to switch-hitting.

“I wasn’t really stressing about it too much,” Choi of South Korea said via translator Steve Nam. “I didn’t want to tell (Jays manager) Charlie (Montoyo) about our little secret. I wanted to keep that to myself. … (Sunday) I just decided. I felt pretty good, so why not?”

So does this mean Choi is officially a switch hitter?

“I still don’t know,” he said. “Maybe.”

Snell saw some good in short outing

He didn’t go deep, and it wasn’t a thing of beauty, but Blake Snell was pleased to get his first outing past him. The 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner threw two shutout innings against the Jays, surrendering three hits and two walks but striking out five while throwing 46 pitches. “There’s a lot I’m happy with,” he said. “I was in tough situations that I put myself in, and I was happy that I got out of both of them. The two walks (were) definitely frustrating. The three hits I’m not upset with at all. … I’ve just got to establish more of my pitches over the plate for strikes. Definitely have to limit the amount of pitches per inning, which I’ll take care of.”

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On Tsutsugo’s song

The Rays made what seemed like a cool move Saturday when outfielder Yoshi Tsutsugo came up to hit, playing the same song that was played — and sung by fans — when he was with Yokohama in Japan. The Trop game-day staff saw it suggested on social media, tracked down a YouTube video to get a good enough version, which includes the phrase “Go! Go! Tsutsugo.” (A Twitter video of the Rays playing it got more than 60,000 views.) But Tsutsugo told the Rays after the game that he would prefer the song not be played here. … Tsutsugo didn’t start Sunday, which had to be disappointing to the NHK network that televised the game in Japan, but he came off the bench in the seventh.

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Miscellany

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