Josue De Paula made his MLB debut on Friday night as the Los Angeles Dodgers are giving their top prospect an opportunity while Shohei Ohtani is on the 15-day injured list.
De Paula may receive some starts in either of the corner outfield positions, but he’ll primarily be utilized as the Dodgers’ temporary designated hitter.
Dodgers uniform history: No. 95
De Paula’s arrival was already noteworthy in that he’s the organization’s first position player prospect to get promoted directly from the Double-A level during Andrew Friedman’s tenure as president of baseball operations. And with his MLB debut in the books, De Paula made Dodgers franchise history as their first player to ever wear No. 95.
Overall, he’s just the sixth player in MLB history with a 95 uniform number. Oswaldo Cabrera (New York Yankees) and Josh Ekness (Miami Marlins) are the only other players to do so during the 2026 season. Ekness also made his MLB debut this year.
Takahito Nomura (2002 season), Trevor Rogers (2020) and Trey Amburgey (2021) are the only other MLB players to ever wear No. 95.
It is not uncommon for a player making his MLB to be given a uniform number different than what they wore in the Minor Leagues. And with 95, only Cabrera did so for multiple seasons as he’s kept the number since debuting with the Yankees in 2022.
The Dodgers do have prior instances of players wearing a jersey number in the 90s. Landon Knack has been No. 96 since his debut in 2024, and of course Manny Ramirez and Joe Kelly were among those to wear No. 99.
Along with his jersey number being notable, De Paula became the latest Dodgers rookie to wear the MLB debut jersey patch. Eliezer Alfonzo also did this season as well.
The MLB debut jersey patch began as a partnership between MLB, the Players Association (MLBPA), Fanatics and Topps in 2023. Since that year, players who make their MLB debut have a commemorative jersey patch on their sleeve, which is then authenticated for use in subsequent Topps products.
Michael Busch was the first Dodgers rookie to receive the special jersey patch under the partnership.
He has since been joined by Bryan Hudson, Nick Robertson, Bobby Miller, Gavin Stone, Ricky Vanasco, Landon Knack, Andy Pages, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Justin Wrobleski, River Ryan, Ben Casparius, Roki Sasaki, Jack Dreyer, Hyeseong Kim, Dalton Rushing, Jack Little, Alex Freeland, Justin Dean, Alfonzo and now De Paula.
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