De Jong makes good first impression in loss

PITTSBURGH -- After Chase De Jong came off the mound on Sunday at PNC Park, he shook hands with Pirates manager Derek Shelton in the dugout.

“I initiated it,” De Jong said. “I said, ‘I’m a lot better than the last time you saw me in a big league uni.’ And he goes, 'Way better.'"

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Shelton, who was a bench coach with the Twins when De Jong was with the club in 2019, had seen De Jong struggling in Minnesota before being released in July of that year. The manager saw him enter Spring Training and pitch lights-out baseball to the tune of a 1.88 ERA in 14 1/3 innings, then begin the season at Triple-A Indianapolis with five no-hit innings.

“I saw a guy that had gone through some situations and worked his butt off to get back to the big leagues,” Shelton said.

De Jong, 27, got his latest Major League shot on Sunday, when he fired five-plus innings with one run allowed on three hits and two walks in a 4-3 loss to the Rockies. The only thing keeping him from his first Major League win since Sept. 28, 2018, was a rare shaky performance from the Pirates’ leverage arms, including the first blown save by Richard Rodríguez since last season.

General manager Ben Cherington said De Jong was a guy that the organization paid close attention to after he pitched for the Sugar Land Skeeters in the independent Constellation Energy League. The improvements De Jong had made were noticeable, and the Pirates were close to taking a shot on him then.

“Houston beat us to him,” Cherington said. “They signed him [and] obviously had an opportunity for him. When he became a free agent again, he was someone we targeted.”

The Pirates took a chance on De Jong, who is out of options, by selecting his contract on Sunday. In the short term, it paid off.

A big part of the improvements De Jong has shown have come from a stronger fastball. The right-hander came out of high school pitching in the 88-91 mph range. He got that up to a 93 mph average velocity last season with the Astros following his work in Sugar Land. In the series finale vs. the Rockies, his fastball reached 95 mph in the first inning, the fastest he’s thrown it in the Majors.

“That’s just a lot of the hard work that’s been part of this two-year journey with me, from having to go to independent ball, reinventing myself, getting into my legs,” De Jong said. “The velo jump is a big thing. Now, [it’s] understanding my characteristics of my pitches, being able to set stuff up.”

De Jong found himself in only one jam on Sunday, as a leadoff single by Raimel Tapia and an RBI triple by Charlie Blackmon put him into a hole with one out. He struck out Joshua Fuentes for his second strikeout of the inning, intentionally walked Matt Adams, then threw Brendan Rodgers a 3-2 fastball down the middle that the Rockies shortstop whiffed on.

The Pirates starter let out a yell and a fist pump to the skyline behind him, a reaction fitting for the moment and for the journey he’s been on.

“This game is a fleeting industry,” De Jong said. “We’re talking about being able to get here consistently, have opportunity and I took it all in."

Opportunity is a key word for De Jong at the moment. The Pirates cannot shuffle him around as they have with other guys, as he is out of options and must be exposed to waivers to be sent down.

Chad Kuhl is expected to return to start Monday. JT Brubaker will return from the bereavement list at some point this week. In all likelihood, Trevor Cahill will return in the coming weeks from a left calf strain. De Jong has time to prove himself as he did on Sunday, but likely not a long amount of time.

“I think our hope is that we have a little bit of a runway now,” Cherington said. “We wanted to have some confidence about that because he obviously wasn’t on the roster. He is now. He is out of options. We hope that there’s an opportunity for him.”

This is nothing new for De Jong, though. He’s on his fourth MLB organization in five years. He knows this game can be cruel. He considered calling it quits after being cut by the Twins in 2019, but pitching in the Majors is Plan A for him, even if the Pirates have trouble finding space for him.

“Every time you step on the mound, somebody’s watching and you’re competing for the next contract,” De Jong said. “That’s just part of the game at this level and how I pitch and where I’m at in my career. It’s a good thing, because that puts it in my court.

“I’m like, ‘You know what? If I can do well, I can keep this job a little longer.’”