ST. PETERSBURG -- When the camera pans to Ji-Man Choi, there’s a good chance that the Rays’ first baseman will often be smiling, dancing or messing around with his teammates in multiple languages. Sometimes, he’ll even lend a helping hand to the opponent at first base.
But with the new health guidelines and protocols in place, Choi and the rest of MLB will have to continue to adjust. Choi understands that he’ll have to get creative with his celebrations in 2020, but he is mostly just concerned about the safety of himself and his peers.
“I just feel like at the end, everybody needs to be pretty cautious of what they’re doing,” Choi said through an interpreter. “We just need to make sure that we can play the game of baseball safely.”
Over the past three days, Choi has been wearing protective goggles and a mask during Summer Camp workouts. He said that he’s been wearing them mostly to get acclimated, given that he returned from Korea a little more than a week ago, but he added that he has given some thought about wearing the goggles and mask during games.
Another reason Choi has continued to be cautious is the fact that COVID-19 cases continue to reach record-breaking numbers in the state of Florida. Seeing the increase of confirmed cases has worried Choi.
“Before I left Korea, I saw that the confirmed cases are up,” Choi said. “I’m worried that if we’re able to start a season -- right now we’re doing a lot of social distancing and everything -- but when the games go on, I don’t know how that’s going to play out. … I’m just very worried.”
Despite the worries, Choi arrived in St. Petersburg just in time for Wednesday’s report day and has participated in all three workouts over the weekend. During the downtime, Choi worked out at his brother’s baseball facility, though he admitted he had to work around his brother’s schedule.
During his time in Korea, Choi also mentioned that he spent some time chatting with friends who are currently playing in the Korea Baseball Organization.
“They said that they do miss their fans a lot, especially because Korean baseball fans are very passionate and they bring a lot of energy to their teams,” Choi said. “A lot of players really miss that part. It’s really different from other years.”
But even with the concerns, Choi never wavered about wanting to play and will serve as a pivotal member of the Rays, both on and off the field. On the field, Choi will get the majority of the work at first base. Off the field, he’ll be looked upon as one of the players who will have to consistently bring energy to the ballpark, especially because it’s unlikely fans will be able to attend games.
The Rays and Choi don’t think that’ll be a problem.
“I’m sure we’ll find some ways to get creative with our celebrations,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I’ll trust these guys in this clubhouse, they’ll find a way. Between [Kevin Kiermaier], Willy [Adames] and Ji-Man, those are entertaining guys. Now, they just have some rules that they’ll need to follow.”