Catcher Travis Dano (34, Atlanta), who contributed to Atlanta’s World Series championship in 2021, thanked fellow teammate Choi Ji-man (32, Pittsburgh) in Tampa Bay.먹튀검증

Dano recently met with Star News at the clubhouse of the visiting team at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, USA and said, “(2019) When I first joined Tampa Bay, it was a difficult time mentally and physically. I was able to adapt easily,” he recalled. “Especially, Choi Ji-man approached me first, talked to me, and danced in the dugout to make me laugh. He helped me a lot so that I could fit into the team well.”

Dano, who made his major league debut with the New York Mets in 2013, seemed to be establishing himself as the main catcher, appearing in 108 games in 2014 and 112 games in 2017. However, when he, who played only four games due to injury in 2018 and showed no signs of rebound in 2019, the Mets pulled out the release knife after just 10 games after the season opener.

Dano, who transferred to the Dodgers in May of the same year, played in only one game as a pinch hitter and then transferred to Tampa Bay through a trade. At the time, Tampa Bay’s main catcher Mike Zunino (32, FA) was out of power due to injury. Even at this time, most people predicted that if Junino returned, Dano would experience the pain of being released again.

But the expectations were wrong. Dano continued his career by proving his value with a home run in limited opportunities. In particular, on July 15 (local time) of that year, he showed off his superpower by hitting 3 homers in one game in an away game against the New York Yankees. Six days later, he hit his first career home run against the Chicago White Sox, leading the team to a 4-2 victory.

In a recent phone interview with Star News, Choi Ji-man also said, “At that time, Dano was like a life of a day. I contributed to the victory and in the end I was able to survive until the end of the season.”

Travis Dano’s batting appearance.
Dano played 92 games for Tampa Bay in 2019 and succeeded in rebounding with a batting average of 0.263, 16 homers and 67 RBIs. And in the winter of the same year, he was able to sign a sweet two-year, $16 million contract with Atlanta.

And that’s not all. During the 2021 season, Atlanta gave Dano a two-year, $16 million extension that runs through this season. This includes a club option for the 2024 season. Dano is expected to accompany Atlanta with an annual salary of 8 million dollars (approximately 10.496 billion won) next year, if he does not suffer greatly this season.

Dano, who succeeded in rebounding from the edge of the ‘precipice’ in 2019, obtained a four-year contract worth 32 million dollars (approximately 41.984 billion won) in Atlanta alone, and following the 2021 World Series victory, last year he also enjoyed the honor of being selected as an All-Star for the first time in his life. In other words, he succeeded in ‘reversing his life’ and won both his money and honor.

Dano smiled, saying, “Tampa Bay was a turning point in my baseball life.”

Dano was put on the injured list at the beginning of this season due to a concussion and missed about a month, but after returning to the team in early May, he is performing like Altoran again. As of the 26th (Korean time), he is recording a batting average of 0.283 (32 hits in 113 bats), 6 home runs and 18 RBIs in 31 games. He also has an excellent OPS of 0.839 (on-base percentage and slugging percentage).

“I don’t have personal goals such as batting average or home runs,” he said. “My only goal is to finish the season healthy so that I’m always ready to go when the team needs me.”