Earlier this season, Ji-Man Choi surprised everyone when he took an at-bat as a right-handed hitter and sent a ball over the left-center-field fence at Tropicana Field. But while Choi delivered one of the most memorable moments of the season with that swing, the Rays' first baseman is unsure if he’ll continue hitting as a righty this season.

“I’m still not sure,” Choi said through team translator Steve Nam on Wednesday. “Right now, I just want to focus [on hitting] as a lefty because I do want to help the team out, and right now I feel like I’m not helping the team out as much as I want to.”

Choi is off to a slow start at the plate this season, coming into Wednesday’s game against the Yankees hitting .169 (11-for-65) and just 1-for-9 as a righty. Overall, his 40.3 whiff rate ranks in the second percentile in the Majors, while his .176 expected batting average and 33.3 strikeout percentage both rank among the worst in MLB.

All of those numbers are unlike Choi, who had a 22.2 strikeout percentage last season and had a whiff rate of just 25.5 on pitches last season. But while Choi said he didn’t want to make excuses for his slow start, he indicated that he believes the switch-hitting experiment might’ve led to him developing some bad mechanical habits with his natural swing.

“The thing I know is that the whole process was a little bit rushed,” Choi said. “I feel like swinging as a righty kind of messed up my balance a little bit. If everything goes well, I’m OK with hitting as a righty, but we’ll see in the future. We’ll see how the season goes, but the only thing I can tell you right now is that I want to help the team as much as possible, which I feel like it’s hitting as a lefty better than switching sides.”

Though the focus will be on his lefty swing, Choi left the door open to making a possible appearance from the right side if he feels comfortable enough to do it. If nothing else, leaving the door open gives Choi and the Rays some added flexibility moving forward.

Choi also added that he’ll work on his right-handed swing during the offseason and during next year’s Spring Training, since switch-hitting is still something that he wants to pursue. The Rays will be on board with whatever Choi decides.

“If he goes up there and says, 'I’ll just bat right-handed,' we’re not going to say no,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “We have a pretty good sense of what he’s doing when he goes up to the batter’s box with which helmet he has on. We’re comfortable with his decisions. If he feels that he can get his left-handed swing going a little bit more by eliminating some of the work that he’s been doing right-handed, that’s fine with us.”

Rays make taxi squad move
The Rays added left-hander Sean Gilmartin to the taxi squad prior to Wednesday’s game against the Yankees. The left-hander has made one appearance with the Rays this season, allowing two home runs and three earned runs over 3 1/3 innings.

Gilmartin replaces infielder Daniel Robertson, who was designated for assignment on Tuesday, on the taxi squad. Gilmartin joins catcher Ronaldo Hernández, first baseman/outfielder Brian O'Grady and right-hander Sam McWilliams.

Morton update
Cash didn’t have many injury updates on Wednesday, but he did say that Charlie Morton played catch again on Wednesday and is scheduled to throw a bullpen session either Thursday or Friday. If that all goes well, there’s a chance that Morton returns to the team over the weekend against the Blue Jays.

Up next
Brandon Lowe and the Rays close out a three-game set against the Yankees on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium. Lowe, the reigning American League Player of the Week, entered Wednesday with a home run in five of his last six games and a nine-game hitting streak. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Sun, MLB.TV and MLB Network Showcase.