Rays’ Ji-Man Choi leaves game with hamstring strain

Rays first baseman/DH Ji-Man Choi left Saturday night’s game with what the team described as a left hamstring strain. Choi apparently suffered the injury while scoring a run in the fourth inning of Saturday night's game against Boston, and Yoshi Tsutsugo replaced Choi in the DH spot during what would have been Choi’s next plate appearance.

More will be known about Choi’s status after the game, as depending on the severity of the strain, his availability for the rest of the regular season and postseason could be in question. It would be a notable loss to a Rays team that currently has the best winning percentage in the American League and is hopeful of making a deep run into October.

Choi has been Tampa Bay’s primary first baseman against right-handed pitching this season. Entering Saturday's action, 125 of Choi’s 143 plate appearances had been against righties, and he owned a .240/.344/.413 slash line in those 125 PA. While Choi is primarily a left-handed hitter, he has dabbled in switch-hitting this year and also even taken a couple of plate appearances as a right-handed hitter against righty pitching, although this experimentation hasn’t led to much production.

Even though Choi has gotten the bulk of action at first base, the always-deep Rays have options if he did have to hit the injured list. The left-handed-hitting Nate Lowe could slide right into Choi’s role, with Mike Brosseau serving as the top right-handed hitting first base candidate when a southpaw is on the mound. Yandy Diaz, another righty bat, is currently on the IL with a hamstring injury, but there is some hope Diaz could be back before the end of the regular season.