Chase De Jong

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE

2012
R:  1-0-0, 1.50 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 12.0 IP, 0.8 BB/9, 11.3 K/9

De Jong made six relief appearances in a brief debut, doing very well.  Baseball America ranked him 22nd in the Jays’ system after the season.

2013
R+:  2-3-0, 3.05 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 56.0 IP, 1.6 BB/9, 10.6 K/9

The Jays used De Jong mostly as a starter in advanced rookie ball.  He had an excellent season, with outstanding walk and K rates.  BA moved him up to 11th in the Jays’ system.

2014
A:  1-6-0, 4.82 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 97.0 IP, 2.0 BB/9, 6.8 K/9

De Jong spent the season in the rotation in low A and didn’t have a strong season.  He continued to throw strikes but got hit fairly hard, with opponents posting an .803 OPS against him.  BA rated him 17th in the system.

2015
A (Tor):  7-4-0, 3.13 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 86.1 IP, 1.9 BB/9, 8.0 K/9
A+ (LAD):  4-3-0, 3.96 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 50.0 IP, 2.7 BB/9, 9.4 K/9

The Jays sent De Jong back to low A and he pitched much better, getting his K rate up much higher.  In July, Toronto traded him to the Dodgers for international slot money, which they needed to cover their signing of Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.  The Dodgers sent him to high A, where he pitched well given the environment of the California League.  BA rated him 16th in a strong Dodgers’ system.

2016
AA:  14-5-0, 2.86 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 141.2 IP, 2.5 BB/9, 7.9 K/9
AAA:  1-0-0, 1.69 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 5.1 IP, 1.7 BB/9, 13.5 K/9

De Jong had a strong season in AA, although his K rate wasn’t outstanding.  The Dodgers added him to the roster after the season.  BA ranked him 25th in the system, apparently due to reservations about his stuff.

2017
AA:  1-3-0, 5.97 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 28.2 IP, 3.1 BB/9, 5.7 K/9
AAA:  3-6-0, 6.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 84.0 IP, 2.9 BB/9, 6.5 K/9
MLB:  0-3-0, 6.35 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 28.1 IP, 4.1 BB/9, 4.1 K/9

Early in spring training, the Dodgers traded De Jong to Seattle.  The Mariners shuttled De Jong back and forth between the majors and AAA for about half the season, partly due to injuries in the majors.  He struggled at both locations, mostly pitching as a starter, with low K rates and problems with gopher balls.  In early August, Seattle moved De Jong down to AA, where he also struggled.  BA rated him 16th in a weak Seattle system.

2018
AA (Sea):  5-5-0, 3.80 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 120.2 IP, 2.5 BB/9, 6.6 K/9
AAA (Minn):  2-3-0, 3.20 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 39.1 IP, 2.7 BB/9, 7.8 K/9
MLB (Minn):  1-1-0, 3.57 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 17.2 IP, 3.1 BB/9, 6.6 K/9

Seattle sent De Jong to AA and he pitched better, but hardly dominated.  At the deadline, the Mariners sent him to Minnesota for Zach Duke.  The Twins moved him up to AAA and he pitched somewhat better.  He got a September callup and got solid results, although still without missing many bats.  After the season, the Twins outrighted De Jong to AAA.

2019
IND:  4-4-0, 5.56 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 66.1 IP, 1.9 BB/9, 7.2 K/9
AAA (Minn):  0-5-0, 9.73 ERA, 2.16 WHIP, 45.1 IP, 5.2 BB/9, 6.0 K/9
MLB (Minn):  0-0-0, 36.00 ERA, 6.00 WHIP, 1.0 IP, 27.0 BB/9, 0.0 K/9

De Jong started the season with the Twins and had one rough outing.  Minnesota sent him to AAA and he got hammered, giving up an average of better than a home run every three innings.  The Twins released him in July and he caught on with Sugar Land of the Atlantic League, where he continued to pitch poorly.

2020
IND:  1-2-0, 3.18 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 17.0 IP, 3.2 BB/9, 14.3 K/9
MLB (Hou):  0-1-0, 14.73 ERA, 2.18 WHIP, 7.1 IP, 4.9 BB/9, 11.0 K/9

De Jong returned to pitching for Sugar Land and did much better, missing a lot of bats.  In early August, Houston signed him to a minor league contract, then called him up late in the month.  Houston transferred him back and forth between the majors and their training site, giving him two starts and a relief appearance in the majors.  Possibly due to a sharply increased usage of breaking balls, he missed a lot of bats, but he walked a lot and overall didn’t pitch at all well.   Houston outrighted him to AAA after the season and he elected free agency.

2021
AAA:  2-0-0, 3.60 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 20.0 IP, 3.6 BB/9, 12.6 K/9
MLB:  1-4-0, 5.77 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 43.2 IP, 3.9 BB/9, 8.0 K/9

De Jong had a surprisingly strong spring for the Pirates and didn’t get reassigned until shortly before the season started.  He started four games for Indianapolis and pitched well, then the Pirates called him up at the end of May.  He started nine games for them, but in mid-July he went on the injured list after being struck in the knee by a line drive.  He wasn’t able to return.  In his nine starts, De Jong mostly struggled.  As with nearly all of the Pirates’ fifth-starter types, home runs were a big problem; he allowed 11, one every four innings.  Opponents put up a 280/354/589 line against him, with left-handed batters blasting him for a .660 slugging average and 1.041 OPS.

2022
AAA:  1-0-0, 2.08 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 13.0 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 13.2 K/9
MLB:  6-3-1, 2.64 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 71.2 IP, 3.8 BB/9, 7.4 K/9

The Pirates outrighted De Jong to AAA after the season.  He became a free agent but re-signed with them on a minor league deal for 2022.  In mid-April, the Pirates sent Roansy Contreras to AAA in a service-time-manipulation move and called up De Jong.  Apart from missing about half of July with a knee injury, De Jong spent the rest of the season with the Pirates.  In fact, he finished second on the team in relief innings.  Pitching in middle relief, by early September he had an ERA of 1.82.  Unfortunately, the Pirates at that point found themselves without anybody capable of pitching in late-inning, high-leverage situations, thanks to their focus entirely on middle relievers and low-ceiling waiver claims.  They tried De Jong in the role and he blew a couple of multi-run, ninth-inning leads.  Whether De Jong can repeat what was still a good season is questionable.  He didn’t miss many bats and benefited from an unsustainable .222 BABIP.  He was also helped by a high strand rate of 86.3%.  As a result, his xFIP was much higher than his ERA, at 4.96, and FanGraphs considered him below replacement level for the year.

The Pirates will probably go into 2023 relying on De Jong as a key part of their bullpen.  If so, the risk is that it’ll contribute to a continuing refusal to try to come up with legitimate, late-inning relievers.  You’d like to think they learned something from the problems their bullpen created in the last two month of 2022.

UPDATE:  De Jong struggled in spring training and at the beginning of the season, then went on the injured list due to back problems.  After he returned he was still struggling, and the Pirates designated him for assignment to create roster space.  He cleared waivers and accepted assignment to AAA.  Several weeks later, the Pirates called him back up.  He made one terrible appearance, then was dfa’d again.  He cleared waivers and was outrighted again.