The Los Angeles Dodgers are calling up their top prospect, Josue De Paula, and having him skip Triple-A.
“We’re going to IL Shohei,” manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic's Katie Woo. “Talking to Shohei, the doctors, the training staff, it’s the right thing to do. I think that we tried to kick the can as much as we could, but we are going to bring Josue. He’ll make his major league debut on Friday as a designated hitter.”
The move comes with Shohei Ohtani going on the 15-day injured list as the corresponding move. However, the fact that De Paula is the one getting the call is extremely noteworthy. He is the first position player to be called up from Double-A to the big-league team under current president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.
De Paula will make his debut on Friday after dominating in Double-A. This year, playing 124 games for Double-A Tulsa, he has a .303/.401/.547 slash line with 27 home runs, 37 doubles and 31 stolen bases. He has flat-out crushed Double-A pitching, but major league pitching is going to be something he needs to adjust to.
The Dodgers will need to make a move to make room for De Paula on the 40-man roster as well. However, since he was not on the 40-man roster before the Sept. 1 deadline, he will not be able to play in the postseason.
The Dodgers are trying to lock up a bye in the postseason and potentially track down the Milwaukee Brewers for the No. 1 seed. However, they will now be relying on a 21-year-old rookie who has never even seen Triple-A pitching. Roberts is still confident in what De Paula can do.
“I think that our player development group is very confident in his ability to conduct an at-bat,” Roberts said. “You could argue that the talent in Double-A is similar to Triple-A, as far as pure arms and arm talent. I think that we’ve seen him in camp for two or three years. He doesn’t run from velocity. He controls the strike zone. And I think this is just a good opportunity for him to kind of cut his teeth in the big leagues.”