How Dodgers can fit Josue De Paula onto playoff roster for Corey Seager-like debut

With Shohei Ohtani landing on the injured list with knee and biceps issues, the Dodgers called Josue De Paula straight up from Double-A Tulsa to the major leagues.

The move meant he was skipping Triple-A entirely, making him the first position player prospect promoted directly from Double-A under Andrew Friedman's tenure and the first Dodgers hitter to skip Triple-A since Yasiel Puig.

The numbers that got him to the big leagues are absurd. De Paula hit .303 with 27 home runs, 104 RBI, and 29 stolen bases at Double-A this season, an .966 OPS, and MLB had him as the No. 6 overall prospect in the game before the promotion.

An advanced hit tool forcing a September call-up before anyone expected it is exactly what makes a Corey Seager comparison worth investigating. Seager got the call in September 2015, made his debut with a two-hit, two-RBI performance, and then hit .337 with four homers and 17 RBI over his final 27 games of the season. That was enough for the Dodgers to name him the starting shortstop job over veteran Jimmy Rollins heading into October.

Seager and the Dodgers didn't make much noise that year, losing to the New York Mets in the NLDS, but it signaled to the team and fanbase they were willing to give the keys to the kid. Seager wound up leading the Dodgers to the 2017 World Series, and again in 2020, finally winning it all. He was World Series MVP and the NLCS MVP the series before, so LA can only hope this move for De Paula follows somewhat similarly.

Where Josue De Paula fits on the Dodgers' playoff roster

So where does De Paula actually fit for October? With Ohtani out, the DH spot is wide open, and De Paula is expected to see the bulk of his early opportunities there, with some reps in the corner outfield mixed in. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic mentioned, of his first 37 MLB pitches he has seen that were outside the zone, De Paula has only swung at five, and didn't strike out until his 17th big league at-bat.

If he keeps hitting anywhere close to the way he has in his minor league career and glimpses in these first few games, there's a path to him being a useful bat off the bench or a semi-regular DH option on the postseason roster. That combo would be adding thump, energy and speed the Dodgers don't currently have without sacrificing anything on defense, since he'd be playing a spot that doesn't ask much of his glove yet.

None of that matters unless the Dodgers can legally get him on a postseason roster, and that's going to be a bit of a hurdle. Since De Paula wasn't on the 40-man as of September 1, per MLB's rules regarding postseason roster requirements, the Dodgers need to petition the Commissioner's Office, which requires him to have been in the organization by August 31 and to be replacing an injured player who's already served his minimum IL time.

De Paula clears the first requirement, but the second gets a little trickier. Andy Pages, is one of the options for De Paula to replace, but is also inching closer toward a return around the end of September and likely will be reclaiming his everyday outfield job, not sitting out for procedural reasons. 

Dalton Rushing is the more interesting case, since he's already been ruled out from catching this season, and if the front office likes what it's seen from De Paula, shifting Rushing to the 60-day IL cleanly, locks in his unavailability. It opens the exact spot the Dodgers would petition around. In that case, Pages plays center and De Paula takes the roster spot Rushing leaves behind.

It's a real procedural step, not a guarantee, and it depends on the front office actually preferring De Paula's over Rushing. It also assumes the Dodgers have no other injuries before then, which is always a roll of the dice. But if the front office wants De Paula's bat and energy in October, this is the door they'll need to walk through.

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