Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
TEXAS LEAGUE All-Star game has six Travs
After the Arkansas Travelers closed out their series victory at the Springfield Cardinals on Sunday, the team loaded up the bus back to North Little Rock and left its six Texas League All-Stars behind.
Monday morning, 24-year-old right-hander Chase De Jong checked through airport security and joined his teammates at the gate, waiting for the 12:14 p.m. flight out of Springfield-Branson National Airport.
De Jong and two other Travs starters, Nathan Bannister and Johendi Jiminian, will each pitch an inning for the North Division in tonight’s All-Star game at Security Bank Ballpark in Midland, Texas.
The trio were part of a starting rotation that went 4-1 with a 3.57 ERA over a 7-game road trip that clinched the Travs’ first playoff berth since 2015.
“Our starting staff has been very good the whole time we’ve been here since Opening Day,” said De Jong, who was a Texas League AllStar in 2016, when he was also named the league’s Pitcher of the Year with the Tulsa Drillers (Los Angeles Dodgers). “To be able to run out there and know what we’re getting out of a starter every night, definitely, it’s a great thing.”
De Jong is 4-3 with a 4.16 ERA in his second season with the Travs, and he leads the team with 65 strikeouts. He joined the team last August after struggling in appearances with the Seattle Mariners and Class AAA Tacoma.
Jiminian (4-3, 3.35 ERA) and Bannister (4-5, 6.32 ERA) have both been named Texas League Pitcher of the Week this season.
Jiminian was an All-Star in 2013 for the Class A-Short Season Tri-City Dust Devils, when he was a member of the Colorado Rockies organization. He signed a one-year deal with the Mariners on Jan. 16, and he pitched six innings with one earned run in the Travs’ playoff-clinching 7-1 victory over the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on June 19.
First baseman Joey Curletta hit a two-run home run in the first inning of that game, which was one of the All-Star’s 12 home runs. That total ranks sixth in the Texas League.
Curletta’s .302 batting average is the highest in his career since he batted .326 in Rookie ball with the Ogden Raptors (Dodgers) in 2013.
Curletta also will compete in the Texas League Home Run Derby at 5:55 p.m. today.
“It’s just consistent approaches, not trying to do much at the plate,” said Curletta, who ranks third in the Texas League with 52 RBI. “It’s just been controlling the [strike] zone more, being more selective of the pitches I’m swinging at.”
Curletta will start for the North Division along with Travs center fielder Braden Bishop, and infielder Chris Mariscal will join the game later from the reserves.
Bishop was named the MVP in last season’s California League All-Star Game, when he went 4 for 4 with a triple, 3 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. Bishop moved up from Class High-A Modesto Nuts to the Travs last July, and his 90 hits this season rank third in the Texas League.
Mariscal mostly plays second base and shortstop for the Travs, and his two-run triple in the ninth inning helped keep Arkansas in first place in the standings with a 7-5 win over Springfield on Saturday.
The second half of the regular season resumes Thursday, when the Travs host Corpus Christi at 7:10 p.m. at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
“All of us had solid halves,” De Jong said. “Keep building on the foundation.”