Daniel Choi

Daniel Choi (최용희)

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• School California State University, Long Beach

• Born April 22, 1972

BR register page

Biographical Information

Daniel Choi was one of college baseball's brightest stars in 1993, going 17-2 with a 2.57 ERA for Long Beach State. He led the Big West Conference in wins, ERA and strikeouts, winning Pitcher of the Year honors. Nationally, he led NCAA Division I in wins, one ahead of Brooks Kieschnick. He was named a consensus All-American, with Brian Anderson the only other pitcher so honored; Scott Christman, Darren Dreifort and Jeff Granger each made two of the three major lists.

The Oakland Athletics took Choi in the 15th round of the 1993 amateur draft. Instead, he signed with the Samsung Lions, who offered somewhere between $200,000 and $1,000,000 for the Korean-American hurler. Daniel struggled in three seasons with the Lions. He was 1-2 with a save and a 5.48 ERA in 1994, allowing 15 hits and 26 walks in 23 innings. In '95, he gave up four walks, two homers and five earned runs in 6 2/3 IP. He ended up in 1996, with four earned runs and eight hits (two homers) in a four-inning stint for Samsung.

Overall, Choi had gone 1-2 with a save and a 5.88 ERA in 11 games in the Korea Baseball Organization. He had walked 20 and struck out 23 in 33 2/3 innings while serving up eight gopher balls and a .294 opponent average.

In addition to his unusual career path of US college to Korea, Choi was likely the first American player in the KBO, which forbid signing US pros until 1998.

Sources

• KBO Player Page
• 1994 Baseball Almanac
• Statiz.co.kr