GLENDALE, Ariz. — Hyun-Il Choi is a young man in a hurry.

One of the top high school players in his native South Korea, he would have been a top pick in the Korean Baseball Organization’s draft but chose to sign with the Dodgers instead.

“It wasn’t difficult for me,” Choi said at Camelback Ranch this weekend. “All the best players play in MLB and all the best players have been in the minor-league system. So that was my dream. If I go (and play professionally in) Korea, it’s really hard to go to MLB. You have to be the best player in the KBO for, like, eight years and then go to MLB. That’s too hard for me. Then the Dodgers wanted to get me – so why not? I was, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it.’”

Less than three years after coming to America, the 21-year-old Choi already conducts interviews in English, having ditched the translator he jokingly refers to as “good as a friend but not good as a translator” after the 2019 season.

“I have to (learn English),” he said, never stumbling in his second language during this interview. “I have to stay here. I have to hang out with friends. So I have to. It took a little long but it’s getting comfortable.”

Choi spent an uncomfortable 2020 back in his native country, minor-league seasons having been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It was reallly, really hard for me,” he said. “I was in Korea and the KBO was playing. My friends and teammates were playing in the KBO – and they got paid. They were playing baseball and I was watching on TV. Sometimes I just turned it off because it was hard. It was a really, really bad time for me.”

He rebounded … in a hurry. In his first full season as a professional, Choi went 8-6 with a 3.55 ERA over 106-1/3 innings at the Class-A level and was named Minor League Pitcher of the Year in a Dodgers’ organization loaded with dynamic pitching prospects.

“The main thing that stands out is his strike-throwing ability. He had a 4 percent walk rate last year. Pretty impressive for a young man,” Dodgers director of player development Will Rhymes said. “His command of the fastball is excellent and he is a true pitcher. His pitch-ability is really advanced.”

Choi would now like to build on that by adding more speed to his already precocious game.

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“The No. 1 thing is velocity,” Choi said, identifying the goal of all his offseason and spring work this year. “I feel like I have not good enough but pretty good command and control. But I threw like 91, 92, sometimes 88, 89. I want to consistently throw 92, 93. Touch 96.

“I’ve just been at High-A. A lot of guys … have told me Double-A, Triple-A and the big leagues is all different. You’ve got to be better. The No. 1 thing I should better is velocity.”

The Dodgers have given Choi a program to emphasize points in his workouts and delivery designed to draw more velocity out.

“He’s still really young,” Rhymes said. “We’ve seen flashes of the higher velo last year. In certain outings, he would sit higher. Not to overemphasize velocity because he does a lot of things well – he’s a really good executer, he’s got a good mix and he can really sequence. But obviously adding some velocity would be helpful.

“Obviously, it’s individual. But we’ve had quite a bit of success over the last few years of doing so with a number of guys. I think he’s at the age where you could see it tick up significantly.”