The Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday acquired minor league shortstop Drew Jackson and minor league right-handed pitcher Aneurys Zabala from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for right-handed pitcher Chase De Jong.
Jackson, 23, has a career .288 batting average with 63 stolen bases, eight home runs and 73 RBI along with a .363 on-base percentage in 183 games over two professional seasons with the Mariners organization. The Berkeley native was named by Baseball America as a Low-A All-Star in 2015, along with being named Northwest League Player of the Year and selected by the league as mid- and post-season All-Star, after leading the league with a .358 batting average, a .352 on-base percentage, 64 runs and 47 stolen bases in 59 games. Jackson was originally drafted by the Mariners in the fifth round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft out of Stanford University.
Zabala, 20, has a 4-13 record with a 4.49 ERA and has recorded four saves in 44 career games, including 12 starts, over three minor league seasons with the Mariners. In 2016, the flamethrower went 1-5 with one save and posted a 2.88 ERA, while striking out 28 batters over an even 25 innings. He held batters to a .167 average, which ranked third lowest in the Arizona Rookie League, including limiting righties to a .156 mark. The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native was originally signed by the Mariners as non-drafted free agent in April of 2014.
The 23-year-old De Jong was selected as the Double-A Texas League Pitcher of the Year, honored by the league as a mid and post-season All-Star, and was named by Baseball America as a Double-A Classification All-Star this year after combining to go 15-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 26 starts with Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City. He limited opponents to a .210 batting average with a 1.03 WHIP, while striking out 133 against just 40 walks in 147.0 combined innings. The Long Beach native was acquired by the Dodgers on July 2, 2015 in a trade with the Blue Jays and was originally selected by Toronto in the second round of the 2012 MLB draft.
De Jong vacates a spot on the 40-man roster, which now leaves the Dodgers’ tally at 39.
(Dai Sugiura provided some information furnished in this report)