Tim Locastro


Timothy Donald Locastro is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. He previously played for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 13th round of the 2013 MLB draft and signed with them on June 13.

Toronto Blue Jays

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

Los Angeles Dodgers

Locastro was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 2, 2015 in exchange for three international signing slots. He was assigned to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and helped them to the California League championship. 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. The Dodgers assigned him to the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League after the season. In 2017 he was selected to the Texas League mid-season all-star game and between Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City, he hit.308 in 127 games with 34 steals.
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. 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. He became the first Ithaca player to play in MLB since Glen Cook appeared in nine games for the Texas Rangers in 1985. The following day, Locastro again appeared as a pinch runner, and stole third base for his first major league steal. 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. He was not added to the post-season roster. Locastro was designated for assignment on November 20, 2018.

Arizona Diamondbacks

The day after being designated, Locastro was traded to the New York Yankees for minor league pitcher Drew Finley and cash considerations. On January 16, 2019, the Yankees traded Locastro to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league pitcher Ronald Roman and cash. In 2019 Locastro batted.250, and stole 17 bases without being caught, leading the major leagues in stolen base percentage. He had the fastest sprint speed of all major league players, at 30.8 feet/second. He also finished the season with a BABIP of.243 on ground balls. He also has yet to record a caught stealing in his career. He also set the MLB record for most hit by pitches with less than 300 plate appearances, which in turn inflated his on base percentage.