Brewers sign Korean first baseman Ji-Man Choi to minor-league deal with invite to camp

For the second winter in a row, the Brewers have signed a slugging first baseman out of South Korea. The circumstances this time were a bit different, however. 

The Brewers announced Monday they signed Ji-Man Choi to a minor-league deal with an invitation to their spring camp, a move that gives them more depth at first base.

No other details were provided by the club but a report Sunday night out of South Korea indicated Choi, 26, would receive a $850,000 salary if he made the Brewers' roster. That report said the deal included an additional $650,000 in incentives for various levels of at-bats.

That report also indicated Choi could opt out of the deal at the end of spring camp if he didn't make the Brewers' roster. If he accepts a minor-league assignment, there is another opt-out date of June 15 if not summoned to the majors.

Last winter, the Brewers signed first baseman Eric Thames, who had played three seasons in South Korea, to a three-year, $16 million deal with a club option for 2020. Later in the off-season, they claimed first baseman Jesus Aguilar off waivers from Cleveland, and he became a right-handed complement to the left-handed-hitting Thames.

Together, Thames and Aguilar slugged 47 homers and drove in 115 runs, making them one of the most productive tandems in the majors.

The Brewers lost depth at that position in the organization during the 2017 season, however, when they traded Class AAA Colorado Springs' Garrett Cooper to the Yankees for reliever Tyler Webb (Cooper since was traded to Miami). The left-handed-hitting Choi also has played some left field and, at the least, protects the Brewers at first base should anything happen to Thames or Aguilar. 

"Adding Choi continues to augment our organizational depth," general manager David Stearns of the signing. "We look at him as a guy who has always hit and is still pretty young. We look forward to bringing him to camp and seeing what he can do."

Choi, 26, played most of last season with the Yankees' Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre club, batting .288 with 15 home runs and 69 RBI in 87 games. He saw action in six games with the Yankees, batting .267 with two homers, including one off Milwaukee's Junior Guerra at Yankee Stadium, with five RBI.

In his previous major-league stint with the Los Angeles Angels in 2016, Choi struggled, hitting .170 in 54 games with five homers and .610 OPS.

Choi, a stocky, 6-foot-1, 230-pounder, signed as an international free agent in 2009 with Seattle, but was allowed to leave as a minor-league free agent six years later. He signed a minor-league deal with Baltimore but was taken by the Angels in the Rule 5 draft of unprotected players in December 2015. After one season with Los Angeles, he signed with the Yankees.

Nelson improving: MLB.com reported that right-hander Jimmy Nelson, recovering from shoulder surgery, will start a throwing program earlier than expected. Nelson will start light throwing at the end of this week, about a month earlier than originally expected after repairs on a torn labrum in September. 

Nelson, who has been using a hyperbaric chamber at his home to facilitate healing, was expected to possibly miss a significant portion of the first half of the 2018 season. What this does to the timetable for his return remains to be seen. 

"Once we start throwing, we can really see a timeline for this thing," Nelson told MLB.com. "Everyone responds differently. It might go faster than we assume, or take a bit longer. ... So, I don't want to set a date (to return to action). I just want to keep progressing like I have been. That day will be sooner than it is later."