New York: South Korea’s Choi Ji-man homered in his New York Yankees debut on Wednesday, his fifth-inning blast impressing even slugging sensation Aaron Judge.
“That was awesome!” Judge said of Choi’s effort after the left-hander belted a 1-0 fastball from Toronto Blue Jays hurler Marco Estrada 457 feet into the right field bleachers.
“You see how far he hit that ball?” enthused Judge, who also homered in the Yankees’ 7-6 loss to the Jays. “That was incredible.”
The Yankees called up Choi from the minor leagues after designating struggling first baseman Chris Carter for assignment on Tuesday.
Choi is just the latest player called on by a Yankees team trying to fill a void at first. He became the seventh player to start a game at first base for the Yanks this season and the 10th player to appear there for New York.
Choi, 26, signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees after he was released by the Los Angeles Angels in December.
He played in 54 games for the Angels last season and batted .170 with five home runs and 12 runs-batted-in.
In Triple-A this season he was batting .289 with eight homers and 43 RBI.
“I wish we had won the game today. I wish we had played better as a team,” Choi said. “But for me I’m happy with the start I had and I’m looking forward to building on what I did today.”
