The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Chase De Jong from Triple-A Indianapolis, and the right-hander will make his first start for the club against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday at PNC Park.
It was one of several roster moves made by the Pirates, who designated infielder Ildemaro Vargas for assignment to make room for De Jong on the 26-man major league roster. Vargas was 1 for 13 with one RBI in seven games after being claimed off waivers from the Chicago Cubs on May 17.
The Pirates also placed right-hander JT Brubaker, who threw six scoreless innings in a 7-0 win over the Rockies in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, on bereavement leave. That allowed outfielder Ka’ai Tom, who served as the 27th man for the doubleheader, to remain on the active roster.
De Jong, 27, received a non-roster invite to spring training after pitching three games with the Houston Astros last season, who signed him from the Sugar Land (Texas) Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League. DeJong was 2-0 with a 3.6 ERA over 20 innings in four starts for the Indianapolis Indians this season, allowing one earned run in six innings in his most recent start on May 22 at St. Paul.
“What I saw from him in spring training was a guy that sort of transformed himself a little bit,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton, who was Minnesota’s bench coach when De Jong pitched for the Twins. “Not an easy road. He was in the big leagues, went back, went to independent baseball, worked his way back to the big leagues. Saw the adjustments he had made with his fastball and the command of it and the usage of it. So, I saw a guy that had gone through some situations and worked his butt off to get back to the big leagues.”
De Jong is out of minor league options, so Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said his hope is that “we have a little bit of a runway now” to keep De Jong on the major league pitching staff. Brubaker’s bereavement leave will last anywhere from three to seven days, and the Pirates have starters Trevor Cahill (left calf strain) and Steven Brault (lat strain) on the injured list.
“We hope that there’s there’s an opportunity for him,” Cherington said. “Our hope is that we can get him an opportunity for some period of time.”
