Hyun-il Choi is a 21-Year-Old Right Handed pitching prospect from South Korea who, along with Miguel Vargas, was named the Minor League Player of the Year in the Dodgers organization this year. South Korea has produced several great pitchers and I’m sure Dodgers fans immediately think of Chan Ho Park and Hun-Jin Ryu when they hear his name.
Dodger Poke was able to secure a question-and-answer interview with Choi and asked him who his main influences were growing up and whether he gets compared to Chan Ho Park or Hun-Jin Ryu.
I started to really like the MLB when I was 10 or 11, so my role model was Pedro Martinez because I have a similar arm slot and wanted to learn how to throw his changeup.
I don’t get compared to them yet…… If I make the Major Leagues then it’s probably coming, but not yet.
Choi was acquired in 2018 out of High School, and, according to MLB.com, might have been the #1 draft pick in the Korean Baseball Organization had he not been picked up by the Dodgers. He is very talented and is also very excited to be a Dodger.
Honestly, I wasn’t the #1 pick coming out of High School. I think I might have been in the top 10, and if I would have stayed and got drafted in Korea that would have been great for my friends and family, but I’m so happy playing for the Dodgers and I’ve made some great new friends in the U.S.
Coming to an entirely new Continent and a new culture, I assume, isn’t an easy thing to do. So I asked Choi what that process was like.
It was hard. I had to learn a different language, had to make new friends, new foods so everything was changed. My first year, 2019, was really stressful, but it’s all good now and I have made great friends with the Dodgers. My friends with the Dodgers are such great people and all of the Dodgers coaching staff is awesome.
Choi is a little different than many of the Dodgers pitching prospects because he relies more on control than he does power. He sits in the low 90’s with his fastball, so it’s not as if he can’t throw a 4 seam up in the zone, but his control is truly elite. In fact, as a Dodger, between 2019 and 2021, the right-handed South Korean has walked just 29 hitters in 171.1 innings pitched and has amassed a 6:1 strikeout to walk ratio. Choi isn’t totally sure how he grew to have such great control but remembers his coaches telling him to always throw to his partner’s chest.
I don’t really know where I learned to have my control of my pitches, but when I had just started playing baseball when I was 9, my first coach wanted me to throw to my partners chest every single time so I’m sure that helped.
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As stated earlier, Choi isn’t the typical spin rate fastball prospect that we see so much in today’s game. Instead, he is a 4 pitch pitcher that has a great feel for his changeup and both breaking balls and throws them in any and all counts. He does a great job of using his off-speed pitches to keep hitters off-balance because he throws them for strikes so well, and gets ahead in the count. As a result, although his fastball is only low 90’s, it is deceptively quick because it is set up so well. In fact, as you’ll see in this first video, Choi likes to start innings and entire games with back-to-back changeups to set up his fastball. In this video, notice that, by the time he throws his fastball, the hitter’s timing is really off and he is late on a pitch that is just 91 mph.
When asked about how he learned his changeup and how it has become such a good pitch, Choi said it didn’t take him long to realize that he needed to learn how to throw that pitch once he became a Dodger.
When I was in High School I thought I threw really hard, but when I came here and saw some of the guys throwing bullpens I changed my mind. I was a starting pitcher and realized that I needed to learn how to be a starter without high velocity. I didn’t have a changeup, but before Spring Training in 2019, Joel Peralta helped me a lot and taught me how to throw a changeup. Once I got the changeup, it gave me a good secondary pitch, and so, although I don’t have all that high of velo, I do have command and control and can change speeds so I’m using that.
Choi sets up his fastball very well, and he also locates it very well. He has a lower arm slot so he gets a lot of horizontal movement and can get it to “hop” back over the plate when he throws it to the 4 slot and can also get some “ride” to it up in the zone as well. In the first 2 pitches in this video you’ll see the horizontal movement of the pitch create the “hop” effect where the ball appears to “hop” back over the plate to the hitter, then, on the last pitch, you’ll see the “riding” effect he gets with his lower arm slot.
Here is a picture of the lower arm slot I’ve been referencing. As you can see, he can get underneath the ball a little more than the typical 4 seam fastball, so the pitch has good horizontal movement and a good “hop” effect as well as a good “riding” effect despite the fact that it doesn’t have an exceptionally high spin rate..
My arm slot helps my changeup and it also makes my fastball kinda unique because it gives it a lot of horizontal movement. It also gives me a little bit of vertical movement, but it also makes it hard for me to throw a slider, so I think it has some positives and negatives to it.
Choi uses his off-speed pitches as strike pitches very well, but he also has a wipeout breaking ball that he likes to throw with 2 strikes. In this video you’ll see him use this pitch meant to get the hitter to roll over, then, he uses the pitch to induce a swing and miss strikeout.
Wrap Up
Choi loves his family, he loves the fact that he is from Korea, and he loves taking any chance to get back home. In fact, he goes home during every off-season.
I go back to Korea every off season for about 3 months. I’m not missing Korea, I’m just missing Korean food, that’s it. I don’t feel like I have to go back there because I have really good friends with the Dodgers and the coaching staff, but I do miss Korean food. My dad got to come to Rancho this year in July and watched a couple games, and I did well. The rest of my family, my mom, grandma and grandpa, and my little brother all want to come to the U.S. and see me so I’m looking forward to that.
If Choi had stayed in Korea he, most likely, would have been at least a top 10 pick, would have had a great career in the Korean Baseball Organization and he would have done it from the comforts of home and in front of his friends and family. But, instead, he chose to come to America and play with, what he considers, the best talent in the world.
To all the Korean High Schoolers who want to go to the MLB, I would say come and enjoy the great competition with the best prospects in the world. I think if you come here you can have great and important experiences in your life. Also, it’s really fun to play here, so don’t be shy or afraid to come to the MLB.
The Dodgers love well-rounded people, and Choi is certainly that. They also love great talent, and Choi has that as well, so, even though he comes from 1/2 way across the world he actually is a really great fit. I can tell you that the Dodgers love this guy, who he is and how he pitches, and as you’ve read in his comments, the feelings are mutual. Choi loves being a Dodger, he loves competing against the best talent in the world and is projected to land in the Major Leagues by 2023.
