Pirates to designate Chase De Jong for assignment

The Pirates are continuing to reshape the edges of their active roster, as they’re set to designate right-hander Chase De Jong for assignment and select the contract of outfielder Josh Palacios from Triple-A Indianapolis, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link).

De Jong, 29, had what looked to be a breakout 2022 showing with the Bucs after bouncing between the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Mariners, Twins and Astros organizations over the first 10 years of his big league career. Last year’s 71 2/3 frames were a career-high for the former second-round pick, and he turned in a sharp 2.64 ERA with a 20.1% strikeout rate against a 10.2% walk rate while working as a durable multi-inning reliever.

Things have gone awry quickly in 2023, however. De Jong has appeared in five games and been tattooed for 11 earned runs on 13 hits (three home runs), five walks and a hit batter while only fanning five of his 47 opponents (10.6%). His swinging-strike rate has plummeted from a respectable 10.5% in 2022 to 5.2% so far in 2023.

Promising as De Jong’s bottom-line results were in 2022, his pedestrian strikeout/walk rates and favorable BABIP (.222) and strand rate (86.3%) always made some level of regression seem likely. The extent to which they’ve snowballed was hardly a guarantee, but De Jong’s track record prior to last year’s excellent showing was rough; in 98 innings from 2017-21, he was tagged for a 6.52 ERA with similarly bearish marks from fielding-independent metrics. Overall, in 179 total innings at the MLB level, De Jong carries a 5.18 ERA, 17.6% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate, 30.7% ground-ball rate and 1.76 HR/9.

De Jong is out of minor league options, so the Pirates’ only course of action, if they wanted to make a change, was to designate him for assignment. They’ll have a week to trade De Jong or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. Even if he goes unclaimed, he’d have the option to reject the assignment by virtue of the fact that he’s been outrighted previously in his career.

Palacios, 27, is a former Blue Jays prospect who’s seen brief MLB time with Toronto (2021) and Washington (2022). He’s batted just .207/.267/.232 in a tiny sample of 91 Major League plate appearances but is a far more accomplished hitter in Triple-A, where he’s batted .305/.391/.462 in parts of three seasons. That includes a Herculean start to his 2023 season in Indianapolis, where he’s tallied 60 plate appearances and logged a ludicrous .434/.500/.774 slash line with four homers, four doubles, a triple and three stolen bases (in three attempts). Palacios has drawn six walks (10.6%) against just seven strikeouts (11.7%) and has seen time in all three outfield spots.