Los Angeles Dodgers top prospect Josue De Paula has been in MLB for nearly two weeks, but just won a major award in Double-A. After his electric season with the Tulsa Drillers, De Paula earned the Texas League's MVP award. He played 124 games in Double-A, hitting 27 homers and driving in 104 runs while posting a .948 OPS.
His 104 RBIs led the Texas League, narrowly beating out Tulsa third baseman Jake Gelof's 103, and his OPS is the third-highest in the league. De Paula made his MLB debut against the Miami Marlins on Sept. 11, and has played in 10 games since. He has eight hits in MLB, four of which have gone for extra bases, and has a .974 OPS as well.
He made headlines during his first series against the Marlins, as he hit a 416-foot homer and took quite a while to admire his first MLB homer. De Paula is the top prospect in the Dodgers' organization as well as the No. 6 prospect in MLB, and is showing why he deserves those titles after LA brought him directly to MLB from, Double-A. De Paula wouldn't be able to feature for the Dodgers in the postseason under normal circumstances, as he wasn't on the team before the Sept. 1 cutoff, but he can still work his way onto the postseason roster via an exemption from the commissioner's office.
The Dodgers can request an injury-based exemption from the commissioner's office if a player on their 40-man roster is unable to play due to injury come the beginning of the postseason. The Dodgers have a few such players, but Dalton Rushing is the least likely player to feature for the Dodgers during the postseason. Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages are both likely to make a return, but Rushing's injury is a little more serious.
He suffered a partial UCL tear and has tried returning a couple of times, but the best course of action for the Dodgers would be to keep him on the sidelines while De Paula continues gathering priceless MLB experience. De Paula will at least remain with the team for their final two series of the regular season, which come against the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants over the next week. Their series against the Padres begins Tuesday at 7:10 p.m.
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