Josue De Paula has made his presence felt since being called up to the Los Angeles Dodgers roster on Sept. 11.
The 21-year-old plays an exciting brand of baseball and has shown a real command of the strike zone so far with eight walks in 29 plate appearances. De Paula has felt prepared to meet the challenge of playing in the Majors head on and credits his Dodgers teammates for creating an environment conducive to letting him play freely.
“Probably the biggest is takeaway is it’s basically the same game, just around different people,” he said on SportsNet LA. “But one thing I didn’t expect was this team to be so cool. Like, all the players, the way they accepted me, the way they greeted me, making me feel comfortable. It put me in a better position to be me.”
De Paula is the first position-player Dodgers prospect to be promoted directly from Double-A to the Majors during Andrew Friedman’s tenure as president of baseball operations. Most impressively, he has not looked overwhelmed at the plate despite the jump in competition.
The 21-year-old reached an important milestone last Sunday with the first two hits of his Major League career. The first was a three-run homer. It left De Paula’s bat with a 108.2 mph exit velocity and traveled 416 feet. De Paula flipped his bat in excitement and took a moment to admire the majestic blast.
The reaction from his teammates was an early indication of how open the clubhouse was to the young left-hander.
“It was sick to see all them react that way,” De Paula said. “They were all rooting for me, so they’ve been great and accepted me basically into the team. So it’s awesome.”
Aside from the display of power, De Paula’s plate vision has drawn comparisons to New York Mets slugger Juan Soto. His keen eye was on full display in Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, complete with his own version of the “Soto shuffle.”
While De Paula still has work to do on defense, he has shown the potential to be a foundational building block in the outfield.
Josue De Paula impresses at Dodger Stadium
After beginning his MLB career on the road, De Paula received his first chance to play in front of hometown fans on Friday night and he did not disappoint. He delivered a go-ahead RBI double in the sixth inning and celebrated accordingly upon arriving at second base.
“It felt amazing. To do that for the team, to give us a lead, I’m just celebrating with the boys. I just want to see us win,” he said after the game.
De Paula also reiterated how much he’s been able to learn from teammates and attributed some of his success to the welcoming environment.
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