De Jong finding stability on and off diamond

BRADENTON, Fla. -- For the first time in his life, Chase De Jong purchased a house.

The home, which De Jong and his wife, Christina, bought this winter, resides in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., about 20 minutes from LECOM Park. The De Jongs are hosting David Bednar and his wife, Casey, throughout Spring Training, and Bednar has already given a five-star review. The backyard features a pond, a pool, a hot tub, a hammock and a view of the Florida sunset. If any of De Jong’s teammates want to escape their hotel, they’re welcome to swing by and enjoy a home-cooked meal.

? Box score: Pirates 7, Orioles 4

“It’s my own little slice of heaven,” De Jong said.

De Jong has been searching for his own little slice of heaven for quite some time.

The 29-year-old has lived a nomadic life for most of his career, but after finishing 2022 with a career-best 2.64 ERA across a career-high 71 2/3 innings, De Jong has finally found stability. He doesn’t take it for granted, but he’s allowing himself to enjoy it.

“If you know my career, you know how much this means to me,” he said. “I’ve worked my whole life to have this shred of job security. I know coming into camp that it’s my job to lose. There’s still a driving force behind me to keep it.”

De Jong’s journey to this point featured a laundry list of twists. He’s pitched for seven different organizations -- one being the Sugar Land Skeeters, who at the time were an expansion team of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent league. He’s familiar with being traded, being optioned, being designated for assignment.

One story in particular epitomizes how far De Jong has come.

In 2017, De Jong was, in his own words, “not a good pitcher.” With the Mariners, the right-hander earned his first call-up several games into the season, but he flip-flopped between the Majors and Triple-A before ending up in Double-A Arkansas by August.

At the All-Star break in July, De Jong planned on returning to Long Beach, Calif., to decompress. Before his flight took off, Pat Listach, Tacoma’s then-manager, made sure De Jong at least went home laughing.

“He goes, ‘Dang, if you were staying in Tacoma, we were going to ask you to throw to [Daniel Vogelbach] in the Home Run Derby and try to get both of you guys some work,’” De Jong said. “He was like, ‘You’re giving up a lot of homers, maybe Vogey can do that off of you.’ It was very funny. I actually told Vogey that story last year and he was dying laughing.

“That was one of the first times at a high level where I learned that you have to laugh at yourself. If you don’t laugh, you cry. You have to be able to laugh at it but make your adjustments.”

Therein lies the unquantifiable value that De Jong provides to the Pirates, value that extends beyond his pitching ability to put up zeros. De Jong plays the role of the bullpen’s pied piper, a practitioner of self-deprecating humor with ability to gauge and read people. He believes in accountability, but he prides himself on being an advocate for mental health and is willing to lend an ear if needed.

“The bullpen is such a tight-knit group, and we all look out for each other,” said Bednar. “That starts with him, and he does a good job of keeping everybody … level-headed.”

“Chase has an incredible amount of feel for any environment, any place he’s in,” said Duane Underwood Jr. “He has an innate ability to feel the room out and see where you are. It could be a group of guys, or it could be you, personally, but Chase does a very good job of creating a good environment, whether you’re down and you need a little pick-me-up or riding that nice high wave and he’ll bring you back down to earth a little bit. I’ve always appreciated Chase for that.”

De Jong understands that the hard part comes next -- that putting together one good season is difficult, but stringing them together is another challenge entirely. He knows how quickly circumstances can change, how quickly he could return to a nomadic life. De Jong’s hunger has evolved, but it hasn’t faded.

It will never fade.

“I have to pitch to keep my job,” De Jong said. “I don’t know how some guys around the league don’t pitch with that attitude, but I know it’s one that’s never going to leave me."