Choi returns to Rays from restricted list

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays activated Ji-Man Choi from the restricted list before Wednesday’s series finale against the Royals and optioned infielder Andrew Velazquez to Triple-A Durham.

The first baseman hasn’t played since leaving Saturday’s game against the Red Sox with left calf tightness and wasn't in the lineup Wednesday, but he was available off the bench.

“All is good,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He’s active today. Not in the lineup, but he is active today. The calf is feeling considerably better.”

Choi is hitting .286 with one home run in 20 games this season.

The Rays also officially activated ace Blake Snell, who started Wednesday’s game, from the 10-day injured list. Right-hander Austin Pruitt was optioned to Durham.

“It’s good to have him back on his first day available,” Cash said. “It means the toe obviously healed quick, which is a good thing. We’ll obviously manage his workload, but anytime you get innings out of Blake is a good thing, and it helps his progression moving forward with his time missed.”

There was no specific pitch count on Snell. It depended on how his fractured toe felt.

“We’ll just wait and see how the feel goes for him,” Cash said. “I know [pitching coach Kyle Snyder] will be on top of it. We’ll all be monitoring. Like to see him as efficient as possible, but saying that, you also want to put enough pitches on to where he’s good to go his next time through. There’s a balance that we’ll be talking quite a bit in-game.”

Wood moved to family emergency list
Right-handed pitcher Hunter Wood was moved from the paternity list to the family emergency list. Wood and his wife welcomed the birth of their child, but the baby was a bit premature, and Wood was not ready to return to the team.

“Everything is good with Woody,” Cash said. “The one thing I’ll say is that the baby is fine, but it was premature. They’re monitoring, but I’ve talked to Woody countless times, and things seem to be in the right direction.”

Cash said the team is “optimistic” that Wood could join them on the upcoming road trip.

Zunino’s sign language
It has been a great week for Mike Zunino. He and his wife, Alyssa, welcomed their first child on Friday, and the catcher hit his first home run on Monday in his first game back from the paternity list.

When Zunino homered on Monday -- and then again Tuesday -- he high-fived his teammates in the dugout before making a hand signal to the camera at the end of the dugout. The signal, directed to his wife, means "I love you" in sign language and consists of him raising his index and pinky finger while extending his thumb.

“She took sign language in high school,” Zunino said. “I did that if she’s at the game. She hasn’t been, so luckily I saw the red light on the camera the first night, and it was on again [Tuesday] night.”

Zunino went into Wednesday on an eight-game hitting streak and was hitting .429 with two home runs over that span.