Pirates pick up first baseman Ji-Man Choi in trade with Rays
The Pittsburgh Pirates addressed one of their glaring weaknesses Thursday, acquiring first baseman Ji-Man Choi from the Tampa Bay Rays for a minor league pitcher.
Choi, 31, slashed .233/.341/.388 with 22 doubles, 11 home runs and 52 RBIs in 113 games with the Rays last season and ranked seventh among first baseman with plus-2 Outs Above Average.
The 6-foot-1, 260-pound native of South Korea has a career .239 batting average with 61 home runs and 225 RBIs in six major league seasons with the Los Angeles Angels (2016), New York Yankees (2017), Milwaukee Brewers (2018) and the Rays (2019-22).
He has a career fielding percentage of .994 at first base.
The Pirates had a major need at the position after parting ways with Yoshi Tsutsugo and Michael Chavis, who combined to start 116 games there last season. They used nine different players at first base in 2022.
The Pirates sent right-hander Jack Hartman, a 2020 fourth-round pick who spent last season at Low-A Bradenton, to the Rays in exchange for Choi. Hartman went 0-1 with a 6.27 ERA and 2.04 WHIP in 22 relief appearances. He stuck out 19 in 18.2 innings.
The Pirates also made other roster moves, reinstating right-handed pitchers Blake Cederlind, Yerry De Los Santos, Max Kranick and Colin Holderman and outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba from the 60-day injured list.
They optioned Cederlind and relief pitchers Peter Solomon, Eric Stout and Beau Sulser and catchers Zack Collins and Jason Delay to Triple-A Indianapolis. All six cleared waivers. Collins and Stout elected free agency.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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