Hee-seop Choi (; ; ; born March 16, 1979) is a South Korean former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. The team plays its home games at LoanDepot Park. The ...

, and

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

and in the

KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most success ...

for the Kia Tigers. He was the first Korean-born position player to play in the major leagues.

Early life and amateur career

Choi was born in Yeongam County,

South Jeolla Province South Jeolla Province (), formerly South Chŏlla Province, also known as Jeonnam (), is a province in the Honam, Honam region, South Korea, and the Provinces of Korea, southernmost province in mainland Korea. South Jeolla borders the provinces of ...

, South Korea on March 19, 1979. He graduated from Gwangju Jeil High School in

Gwangju Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...

, South Korea, in 1998. He attended

Korea University Korea University (KU, ) is a Private university, private research university in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1905 by Yi Yong-ik, Lee Yong-Ik, a prominent official of the Korean Empire, Korea University is among South Korea's oldest List of ...

in 1998 and was a member of the

South Korea national baseball team The South Korean national baseball team (), also known as the Blue Wave (), is the national baseball team of South Korea. It has participated in every edition of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), reaching the finals in 2009, and won the WBSC Pre ...

that finished second in the

1998 Baseball World Cup The 1998 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 33rd international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through th ...

. He was scouted and signed by Leon Lee, the father of former major league first baseman Derrek Lee. Coincidentally, he later was traded to the Marlins for Lee.

Professional career

Chicago Cubs

Beginning in , Choi spent four seasons in the Cubs

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

system and was considered to be one of the organization's top prospects. On September 3, 2002, Choi made his Major League debut against the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

and became the first Korean-born

position player In baseball, a position player is a player who on defense plays as an infielder, outfielder, or catcher. A pitcher is generally not considered a position player. A designated hitter, who bats but does not play any defensive position, is also not ...

to play in the Major Leagues. In , Choi played in 80 games, hitting .218 with eight

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 28 RBI. He was the

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent year ...

starter for the Cubs, but suffered a

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

following a collision with teammate

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Kerry Wood on June 7, 2003. Choi went on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 Major League Baseball season, 2019 season, it was known as the disabl ...

, and never reclaimed his starting role. After the season, he was traded to the

for Derrek Lee.

Florida Marlins

With his new team, Choi began the season impressively batting .295 with nine

s and 18 RBIs in April. But his stay with the Marlins was a brief one. On July 30, he was traded to the

along with Brad Penny and minor league pitcher Bill Murphy for

Paul Lo Duca Paul Anthony Lo Duca (born April 12, 1972) is an American former professional baseball player and television personality. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers (–), Florida Marlins (2004–, ), New York Met ...

, Guillermo Mota, and Juan Encarnación.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Choi went on to bat only .161 for the remainder of the 2004 season with the Dodgers, leading many to criticize the Dodgers'

sabermetric Sabermetrics (originally SABRmetrics) is the original or blanket term for sports analytics in the US, the empirical analysis of baseball, especially the development of advanced metrics based on baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. ...

ian general manager Paul DePodesta for acquiring him.

Sabermetric Sabermetrics (originally SABRmetrics) is the original or blanket term for sports analytics in the US, the empirical analysis of baseball, especially the development of advanced metrics based on baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. ...

baseball analysts claimed that Choi did not get enough playing time because of bias from the Dodgers' old school managerial style, which kept rookies on the bench for extended periods of time. Jim Tracy reportedly said that he did not start Choi on one particular day because Adam Eaton was pitching and Eaton has a unique arm angle in his pitching delivery. Choi's production picked up during the 2005 season as he played in 133 games that season and posted a .253 batting average, while hitting 15 home runs and driving in 42 runs. The highlight of Choi's season came during a weekend series against the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

from June 10–12, when he accomplished the rare feat of hittin
six home runs in a three-game series
However, during the – off-season, DePodesta was fired by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, and new general manager Ned Colletti signed

Nomar Garciaparra Anthony Nomar Garciaparra (; born July 23, 1973) is an American former Major League Baseball player and current SportsNet LA analyst. After playing parts of nine seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played shortstop, Third ...

to be the everyday first baseman. Rather than keep Choi on the bench or blocking prospect

James Loney James Anthony Loney (born May 7, 1984) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, and New York Mets, and in the KBO League for ...

's path to the big leagues, Colletti decided to waive Choi during

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

; he was subsequently claimed by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

Post-Dodgers

Choi represented South Korea in the

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in World Baseball Clas ...

, in which his most significant contribution was hitting a three-run pinch-hit

against Team USA. Choi spent the entire 2006 season with Pawtucket. He was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must, within seven days, return the pla ...

August 1, 2006, while on Pawtucket's

and removed from Boston's 40-man roster. Choi cleared waivers on August 11, 2006, and was outrighted to Pawtucket. On December 1, 2006, Choi signed a minor league contract with the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based i ...

where he was given a shot to be Tampa Bay's everyday first baseman. Choi decided to return home after failing to make Tampa Bay's 40-man roster after spring training.

Kia Tigers

On May 14, , Choi signed with the Kia Tigers in the

Korea Baseball Organization The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. The KBO was founded in 1981 and has governed two leagues: the KBO League () and KBO Futures League ( (F ...

. In his KBO debut game, He went 0-for-5 against the Doosan Bears. Choi finished his first KBO season with a .337

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, 7

s and 45 RBI, playing in 52 games. Choi began the season in a slump due to a waist injury, finishing the month of April with a batting average of just .208 and going 25-for-120 to close out the month, and was then demoted to the Korean minor league affiliate of the Kia Tigers. In July, he returned to the 26-man first-team roster, but finished the season with disappointing offensive numbers, batting .229 with only 6

s and 22 RBI. In , Choi broke out offensively and became a star, rebounding from his subpar year. He helped lift the Tigers into title contention, batting .308, blasting a pro career-best 33

s, leading the KBO league in runs with 98 and helping them win the 2009 KBO regular season. Choi was the runner-up in

s (33), RBI (100), and

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...

s (103), 4th in

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

(.589), 6th in

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

(.435), and 11th in

(.308). Choi and Kim Sang-hyeon hit 69 home runs, and the two together were called the "CK Cannon". On December 11, 2009, he obtained his first

KBO League Golden Glove Award The KBO League Golden Glove Award is an award given out annually by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) to the best overall player at each position in the KBO League. It is also commonly known as the KBO Golden Gloves. The award was established i ...

nomination for his play at 1st base. In , Choi had a .286 batting average, with 21

s, 84 RBIs, and drew 81

s. Choi received an all-star selection and also participated in the home run derby, where he set the record for longest home run. In , Choi was limited to 70 games due to injury. He hit .281, with 9 home runs and 37 RBI. In , Choi hit .252, with 7 home runs and 42 RBI in another injury-plagued season. In , Choi hit .258, with 11 home runs and 42 RBI. After the season, he underwent knee surgery.

Achievements

*2009 Runs Leader (KBO) *2009 Golden Glove Award (First baseman)

All-Star appearances

*Choi was one of eight representatives in the 2005

Home Run Derby The Home Run Derby is an annual home run hitting competition in Major League Baseball (MLB) customarily held the day before the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, MLB All-Star Game, which places the contest on a Monday in July. In the context ...

, representing South Korea. Although he lasted only one round, he matched The Netherlands' representative,

Andruw Jones Andruw Rudolf Jones (; born April 23, 1977) is a Curaçaoan former professional baseball center fielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), most notably for the Atlanta Braves. Jones also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tex ...

, with a total of five home runs. He did not feature in the All-Star game.

References

External links

Career statistics and player information
from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Hee-seop 1979 births Living people 21st-century South Korean sportsmen Chicago Cubs players Daytona Cubs players Florida Marlins players Iowa Cubs players Hee-seop KBO League first basemen Kia Tigers coaches Kia Tigers players Korea University alumni Lansing Lugnuts players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball players from South Korea Navegantes del Magallanes players Pawtucket Red Sox players People from Yeongam County South Korean baseball coaches South Korean expatriate baseball players in the United States South Korean expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Sportspeople from South Jeolla Province West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players World Baseball Classic players of South Korea 2006 World Baseball Classic players