By Jesus Perez Vichot (Chuchi)
First baseman Ji-Man Choi will not play for Korea in the upcoming World Baseball Classic (WBC).
According to the information on Twitter by Pirates Fans, Korean baseball player Ji-Man Choi will not represent his native country in the upcoming WBC 2023 because his current team Pittsburgh Pirates filed an objection due to elbow surgery he underwent on Tuesday. left-handed hitter (throws to the right) in November of last year.
The 31-year-old will be replaced by SSG Landers outfielder Ji-hoon Choi (.304 BA & 10 HR 3n 2022). The non-presence of Ji-Man Choi in the Korean national team it will be a significant loss for the Asian team that will be playing the first round in Tokyo, Japan (March 9-13) in group B along with the Japanese hosts, Australia, China and the Czech Republic.
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“G-Money” as Ji-Man Choi is nicknamed had not been summoned in previous editions of these events. The Koreans did not take into account the players who did not play in their league (KBO). The experienced baseball player has played seven years in the Majors, five of them with the Tampa Bay Rays. In 486 games he posted a .239/.345/.429/.773 batting line with 61 home runs and 225 RBIs.
Ji-Man Choi will be a noticeable casualty
Although the absence of Ji-Man Choi will be notable in this tournament, the Korean team should have no problem moving on to the next phase (quarterfinals) that will be played in the same stadium (Tokyo Dome). The most likely thing is that they will achieve one of the two places that will be disputed in the first round, the other classified must be Japan. In the 2009 edition, the Koreans kept the subtitle, falling in the final against the Japanese 5×3.
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