There are 2,430 Major League Baseball games in a regular season, but wins are hard to come by. Just ask Long Beach native and Wilson High alum Chase De Jong, who started on the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday evening and picked up the win as he pitched five innings and gave up four hits and just one run in an 11-1 victory.<\/p>\n
It was the second win of De Jong\u2019s career\u2014the first came more than three years ago, a journey that\u2019s taken him across the country as he\u2019s tried to rebuild his MLB career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m pretty emotional right now,\u201d De Jong said in the postgame press conference. \u201cTwo different independent ball stints, multiple organizations, up and down just fighting and grinding for all this. I mean, three years between Major League wins for me. This was a pretty special night, and to grind through the first, be able to get through that and then cover five and not put a huge burden on the bullpen tonight, that’s what I was really proud of. And then at the end of it, obviously having the win, it’s really special.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Jong was a star in Long Beach from an early age, as the ace pitcher on the Long Beach PONY team out of Whaley Park that won the PONY World Series in 2008. He went on to have a standout career at Wilson High, and was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the second round after his senior year.<\/p>\n
His Major League career has been up and down. He made his debut in 2017 for the Mariners and got his last win for the Twins in 2018. He made just three appearances over the last three years, bouncing up and down and eventually out of the Major Leagues. De Jong talked about his journey through independent baseball on “What Up, Long Beach?!<\/a>,” where he said, \u201cI knew I had more baseball in front of me. I never doubted that.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, he proved himself right. He had a great spring training with the Pirates and has now started seven games for Pittsburgh, his strongest season so far as a professional\u2014at 27 years old. It\u2019s a journey that had Pirates coach Derek Shelton emotional as well.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really happy for Chase. It’s a long way back,\u201d Shelton told the Post-Gazette<\/a>. \u201cThis is a guy that rebuilt himself with indy baseball, made it back to the big leagues. Really happy for him, man. Cool moment.\u201d<\/p>\n As De Jong has been on the long and winding road, he\u2019s still spent time in Long Beach during the offseason, and he\u2019s also married and had a child, as he and wife Chrissy welcomed Clayton Bernhard De Jong prior to this season. Becoming a father only fueled De Jong\u2019s desire to make it back to The Show and to stake his claim. Both Chrissy and baby Clayton were on hand for his win last night.<\/p>\n \u201cMy boy was in the stands, my wife was in the stands,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was a really special night.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been three years since Chase\u2019s last win.<\/p>\n Tonight was emotional. pic.twitter.com\/9x01Zwp6d7<\/a><\/p>\n — Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 6, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n