DENVER – Former Illinois State baseball player Paul DeJong will soon be making his Major League Baseball debut.
A 2015 fourth-round draft pick (131st overall) of the St. Louis Cardinals, DeJong had his contract purchased by the Cardinals on Sunday. In a corresponding move, the Cardinals placed second baseman Kolton Wong on the 10-day disabled listed, retroactive to May 27.
DeJong, who had been playing at Triple-A Memphis, will wear jersey No. 11 for the Cardinals. He was batting .294 with a team-high 11 home runs and 31 RBIs in 46 games at Memphis.
In three seasons at Illinois State, DeJong batted. 326 with 23 home runs and 113 RBIs in 144 games. He was a two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference First-Team selection.
The Cardinals will finish their weekend series at Colorado Sunday at 2:10 p.m. CT. St. Louis then returns home to Busch Stadium to begin a three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.
When DeJong makes his debut, he'll be the first Redbird to do so since his former teammate Brock Stewart did so in 2016.
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