Tim Locastro

Timothy Donald Locastro (born July 14, 1992) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Tim Locastro
Locastro hitting with the Tulsa Drillers
Arizona Diamondbacks – No. 16
Outfielder
Born: (1992-07-14) July 14, 1992
Syracuse, New York
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 29, 2017, for the Los Angeles Dodgers
MLB statistics
(through 2020 season)
Batting average.256
Home runs3
Runs batted in24
Teams

Career

Locastro played high school baseball at Auburn High School and then played at Ithaca College, where he was the Empire 8 player of the year in 2013 when he set school records for runs and stolen bases.[1][2] He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 13th round of the 2013 MLB draft[3] and signed with them on June 13.[4]

Toronto Blue Jays

Locastro played for the Bluefield Blue Jays of the Appalachian League in 2013, hitting .283 in 43 games.[5] The following season, he was selected to play in the Northwest League mid-season all-star game,[6] and he hit .313 in 67 games for the Vancouver Canadians and also stole 32 bases while being caught only four times.[5] He began the 2015 season with the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League, where he hit .310 with 30 steals in 70 games.[5]

Los Angeles Dodgers

Locastro was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers (along with Chase De Jong) on July 2, 2015 in exchange for three international signing slots.[7] He was assigned to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and helped them to the California League championship.[8] He began 2016 with Rancho Cucamonga again and was promoted mid-season to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers. Between the two teams, he was in 131 games, hitting .285 with 24 steals.[5] The Dodgers assigned him to the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League after the season.[9] In 2017 he was selected to the Texas League mid-season all-star game[10] and between Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City, he hit .308 in 127 games with 34 steals.[5]

Locastro was called up to the majors for the first time on September 29, 2017. He was called up to be evaluated for possible use as an impact pinch runner in the playoffs.[11] He made his MLB debut that night against the Colorado Rockies, running for Corey Seager in the eighth inning and remaining in the game to play an inning in left field.[12] He became the first Ithaca player to play in MLB since Glen Cook appeared in nine games for the Texas Rangers in 1985.[13] The following day, Locastro again appeared as a pinch runner, and stole third base for his first major league steal.[14] He did finally get an at-bat, in his third and final appearance for the Dodgers this season, on October 1. He pinch hit against Adam Ottavino and popped out to second.[15] He was not added to the post-season roster.[16] Locastro was designated for assignment on November 20, 2018.[17]

Arizona Diamondbacks

The day after being designated, Locastro was traded to the New York Yankees for minor league pitcher Drew Finley and cash.[18] On January 16, 2019, the Yankees traded Locastro to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league pitcher Ronald Roman and cash.[19]

In 2019 Locastro batted .250/.357/.340, and stole 17 bases without being caught (bringing his career major league record to 22 stolen bases without being caught), leading the major leagues in stolen base percentage.[20] He had the fastest sprint speed of all major league players, at 30.8 feet/second.[21] He finished the season with a BABIP of .243 on ground balls. He also set the MLB record for most hit by pitches (22, or 8.8%) with fewer than 300 plate appearances, which in turn inflated his on base percentage (.357).[22]

In 2020 he batted .290/.395/.464 in 69 at bats with 15 runs, 2 home runs, 7 RBIs, and four stolen bases in four attempts, and was hit by pitches four times.[23] He had yet to record a caught stealing in his career. He had the fastest sprint speed of all major league players, at 30.7 feet/second.[24]

References
  1. "Tim Locastro bio". Ithaca College Athletics. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  2. Lawrence, Steve (June 5, 2013). "Leaving A Mark: Departing athletes made an indelible impression". Ithaca.com. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  3. Derderian, Steve (June 10, 2013). "Locastro selected in MLB Draft". The Ithacan. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  4. "From Bomber to Blue Jay, Locastro is Living a Dream". pgcbl.com. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  5. "Tim Locastro Minor & Fall League Statistics & History". Baseball Reference. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  6. "Auburn native Tim Locastro chosen to play in Northwest League All-Star Game". The Citizen. Auburn, NY. June 25, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2017 – via auburnpub.com.
  7. Weisman, Jon (July 2, 2015). "Dodgers acquire minor-leaguers Chase DeJong and Tim Locastro". dodgers.com. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  8. Houghtaling, Jeremy (September 24, 2015). "Auburn native Tim Locastro still working after winning minor league baseball championship". auburnpub.com. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  9. Moriyama, Chad (September 29, 2016). "Bellinger, Verdugo, Calhoun among 8 Dodgers headed to Arizona Fall League". Dodgers Digest. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  10. "Auburn native Tim Locastro selected as a Texas League All-Star". The Citizen. Auburn, NY. June 15, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017 – via auburnpub.com.
  11. Stephen, Eric (September 29, 2017). "Dodgers call up Tim Locastro from Triple-A". SB Nation. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  12. McCullough, Andy (September 29, 2017). "Dodgers promote speedy Tim Locastro for last-minute playoff audition". LA Times. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  13. "Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY) Baseball Players". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  14. "Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado Rockies Box Score, September 30, 2017". Baseball Reference. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  15. "Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado Rockies Box Score, October 1, 2017". Baseball Reference. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  16. Kramer, Lindsay (October 6, 2017). "Auburn's Tim Locastro left off Los Angeles Dodgers' first-round playoff roster". Syracuse.com. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  17. Todd, Jeff (November 20, 2018). "Dodgers Designate Erik Goeddel, Release Tom Koehler". MLB Trade Rumors. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  18. Healey, Tim (November 21, 2018). "Yankees trade for Dodgers' Locastro". Newsday. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  20. "2019 Major League Baseball Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  21. "Statcast Sprint Speed Leaderboard | baseballsavant.com". Baseballsavant.mlb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  22. Why Tim Locastro Should Be Your Favorite Weird Player | Baseball Bits, retrieved 2019-10-15
  23. "Tim Locastro Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  24. "Statcast Sprint Speed Leaderboard". baseballsavant.com.
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