Deadline Acquisition Ji-Man Choi Struggling Mightily in Rehab Assignment

When the San Diego Padres made their trades at the deadline this season, they hoped that they would help them get back into contention. Never did they imagine that they would be on the outside looking in of the playoff picture with just a few weeks left in the season.

But this is the reality the Friars find themselves in, as they try to make a last-ditch run toward the postseason. The moves that they made haven’t quite panned out at all, including their acquisition of Ji-Man Choi from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He has been on a rehab assignment of late, and it has been difficult for him to get anything going.

“The 32-year-old designated hitter was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a 4-2 loss to visiting Albuquerque on Wednesday. Choi is hitting .200/.333/.250 with one RBI and one double in six games with El Paso.”

Per Jeff Sanders of The SD Union-Tribune

The Choi experiment for San Diego has been rough to see. He has played in seven games with San Diego, and he didn’t record one hit. But to be fair, his days with Pittsburgh weren’t much better, as he hit just .205 with six home runs and 11 runs batted in.

The Padres were hopeful that Choi would have been able to give them something during his time with them, but so far, it has been an empty acquisition. He was a solid player with the Tampa Bay Rays a few years ago but has struggled since leaving Tampa Bay.

As Choi tries to make his way back to the Padres, the hope is that he can give them something. He will be a free agent at the end of the season, so anything he can produce will help his chances to possibly make a team next season.

If he can’t show anything, he could find himself struggling to find a job. The MLB is a results-driven league and unfortunately, Choi hasn’t shown that recently.