Rays' Ji-Man Choi: More live hitting Thursday

Choi (hamstring) is scheduled to take live batting practice against Jose Alvarado (shoulder) at Tropicana Field on Thursday, the Associated Press reports.

Choi also took live batting practice Tuesday but didn't do much running, and it remains to be seen if he'll follow the same protocol Thursday. With the Rays now having clinched the AL East on Wednesday, they could opt to continue taking the cautious route with Choi and exclusively focus on getting the infielder ready for the postseason. Juan Toribio of MLB.com also reports Choi will test himself with what manager Kevin Cash described as "right-at-them groundballs" during the session, "just see how [his] hamstrings feel in the position of fielding a groundball and then coming up and making a throw out of that."