On July 2, 2015 the Dodgers raided the Toronto Blue Jays farm system poaching shortstop Tim Locastro and right-handed pitcher Chase De Jong. In return the Blue Jays received three international signing slots from the Dodgers allowing Toronto to sign Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

In essence both teams got what they wanted. The Jays picked up the international signing they most coveted. The Dodgers acquired Locastro and De Jong who may well be only a couple of years away from major league baseball. The Dodgers obviously did not acquire the two prospects simply as organizational depth. That is, merely to fill out a minor league roster. There are a number of other ways to do that. A definite suspicion is that former Blue Jay coordinator of instruction and present Dodgers minor league field coordinator Clayton McCullough was party to the hand picking of Locastro and De Jong.

Locastro recently was assigned to the Tulsa Drillers from the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the Advanced-A California League making his first start at shortstop at the AA level on July 18.

De Jong began the season with Tulsa making his first start of the current campaign with the Drillers on April 7 against the Corpus Christi Hooks holding them to four hits and one run over six innings. He struggled a bit through April 30. Struggle might be a bit of a stretch as he gave up four runs on only one occasion during his first five starts. Beginning on May 5, 2016, he began a streak in which he gave up two or fewer runs over 11 starts, including five occasions in which he pitched at least six innings and gave up no runs. During those appearances he came close to no-hitting the opposition on four separate occasions.

De Jong was at it again on Friday evening in the first game of a seven-inning double header against the Arkansas Travelers. Through five innings he had allowed no hits. Drillers play-by-play announcer Dennis Higgins, who is obviously familiar with the age-old superstition, indicated to that point in the game there were “no near hits” by the Travelers.

In addition to becoming the Texas League’s first 10-game winner,  De Jong also leads the league with his stellar 2.59 ERA. (Photo credit – Matt Barnard)

The Drillers had pushed across a run in the second inning and two more in the third inning on a two-run homer by second baseman Willie Calhoun. Calhoun’s twenty-one home runs now rank second in the league while his 65 runs batted in lead the league.

De Jong’s teammates provided him with an extra cushion as they broke the game wide open in the top of the fourth inning scoring four runs on six hits, after two were out, giving the Drillers and De Jong a 7-0 lead. The Drillers tacked on two more runs with a run in each of the fifth and sixth innings.

De Jong took his no-hit bid into the bottom of the seventh inning only to lose it on a shattered bat infield single. Both Tulsa announcer, Dennis Higgins, and Drillers first baseman, Lars Anderson, were convinced that Travelers runner Andrew Daniels was out. First base umpire Sean Allen disagreed.

De Jong closed out the seven inning game giving up one run on two hits while walking two and striking out seven. He threw 99 pitches, 61 of them strikes.

The 22-year-old right-hander became the first 10-game winner in the Texas League and lowered his ERA to 2.59. That would be a league leading 2.59 which is almost one-half of a run better than the 3.03 ERA of Northwest Arkansas Naturals right-handed Jake Junis.