It’s time again for Baseball Roundtable’s Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying this weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances and statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. I’m also drawn to baseball “unicorns,” one-of-a-kind MLB accomplishments or statistics.
This week’s Tidbit takes a look at Tim Locastro, who played in only 290 MLB games, but holds the MLB record for consecutive successful stolen bases to start an MLB career (29) and shares the mark for the most times hit by a pitch in a game (three).
Photo: All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Coincidentally (you know how The Roundtable loves coincidences), the previous record holder for consecutive steals to open an MLB career was Tim Raines, who served two seasons (minor leagues) as Locastro’s baserunning instructor. Raines, who stole 808 MLB career bases (fifth all-time), was successful on his first 27 MLB steal attempts.
Locastro got his first MLB steal in his second MLB game (September 30, 2017). He came into the game for the Dodgers as a pinch runner for 2B Chase Utley in the top of the ninth – with the Dodgers up 5-3 over the Rockies and Utley on second. Locastro swiped third base on a 1-2 pitch to 3B Logan Forsythe. (Locastro did not score – Forsythe struck out and Chris Taylor popped out to end the inning.) The theft of third base would be one of only two third-base steals in Locastro’s career.
Lopresto would go on to steal another 28 bases before his first caught stealing – on April 17, 2021. Locastro was a Diamondback at the time and started the game in CF, batting leadoff. After fanning in the first inning, he singled off Erick Fedde, with one out an no one on, in the top of the third. On the fourth pitch to RF Kole Calhoun (a 2-1 offering), Locastro attempted to swipe second base and was retired C Yan Gomes to 3B Starlin Castro (I assume a big shift was on) – earning a trip to the dugout and to the disabled list (dislocated finger on the slide.) During his streak, Locastro swiped five bases as a Dodger and 24 sacks as a Diamondback. He stole bases in seven games in which he started or entered as a CF, five when he stated or entered as a LF, four as a RF, eight as a pinch runner and two as a pinch hitter,
Locastro played in seven MLB seasons (2017-23 … Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Yankees, Mets) and put up a .228-9-39 line, with 100 runs scored and 45 stolen bases in fifty attempts.
In addition to speed on the basepaths, Locastro had a knack for getting hit by pitches. In 2019, he was plunked 22 times in 91 games – the fourth-most HBP in the NL, just five behind league leader Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs (who played in 146 games). On May 24, 2019, as his Diamondbacks topped the Giants 18-2 in San Francisco, Locastro earned a share of the MLB record for HBP in a game (three). He was plunked in the third inning (with one out and runners on first and second) by Drew Pomeranz, the sixth (leading off the inning) by Nick Vincent and in the seventh (with two out and a runner on first) by Derek Holland. He also had a single among his six plate appearances. Over his MLB career, Locastro was plunked 43 times in 616 plate appearances – one every 14.3 trips to the plate.
In 2023, Tim Locastro, playing for the Mets was hit by a pitch in three of his first four plate appearances of the season.
Locastro was a 13th-round pick in the 2013 MLB draft (out of Ithaca College). In three college seasons, he went .387-8-67, with 52 steals in 111 games. In 2013, he was the Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year, when he hit .436-4-36 (nice coincidence in those numbers), with 40 steals and 71 runs in 48 games. In 2025, he has taken the field for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres’ affiliate) in the Pacific Coast League. As I write this, Baseball-Reference shows Locastro with 770 games in 11 minor-league seasons – and a .284-47-296 minor-league stat line with 207 steals.
Primary Resource: Stathead.com
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