The Los Angeles Dodgers formally selected the contract of top pitching prospect Jose De Leon from Triple-A Oklahoma City. A corresponding move on the 40-man roster was not required as a spot was vacated with Shawn Zarraga being sent outright to the Minors at the end of August. The Dodgers now have 31 players on their active roster.
De Leon starts the series finale on Sunday against the San Diego Padres in what will be his Major League debut. The right-hander finished his season with Oklahoma City in strong fashion, stringing together three consecutive starts with at least 10 strikeouts.
Overall, De Leon had five double-digit strikeout games this season. He became the first Oklahoma City pitcher in the Pacific Coast League era to have five such starts in a single season.
De Leon went out in impressive fashion, tallying 13 strikeouts on Aug. 28 to help Oklahoma City clinch a second straight American Northern Division title.
His 13 strikeouts were the second-most by an OKC pitcher in a single game since the club joined the PCL in 1998, and also fell one shy of matching De Leon’s career high, set in August 2014 with Low-A Great Lakes.
What’s more, the 24-year-old leaves behind a 17.2 scoreless innings streak. De Leon went 7-1 with a 2.61 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 111 strikeouts over 16 games.
De Leon has only thrown 86.1 innings this season, which is well short of his 114.1 innings pitched in 2015. He missed all of April due to an ankle injury and was put on the disabled list with a sore right shoulder after making his 2016 debut on May 3.
De Leon returned June 7 and was entrenched in the Oklahoma City rotation the rest of the way. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts did not commit to additional starts for De Leon beyond Sunday. Roberts did laud the righty for his pitch mix and maturity.
