Dodgers prospects: Diego Cartaya, Josue De Paula promoted

Diego Cartaya — the Dodgers' No. 1 prospect in 2023, now No. 7 — and his offensive struggles over the last two seasons have been major cause for concern, indicating thatLA might have a bust on their hands. Last year, he hit .189 with a .657 OPS before being sent to the Development List, basically the minor league's version of getting put on a performance improvement plan. That ended his season prematurely.

He came back to Double-A in 2024 in April, after sitting for a month with a back injury, and got off to a slow start again, with a .133 average and .520 OPS by the end of the month. However, he did improve significantly from that low point and has played 14 games in June, with a markedly better .294 average and .828 OPS.

For a player who's ranked highly for his power, Cartaya's still struggling in that realm, with only five home runs on the season (one in June) and eight extra-base hits (six in June), but the Dodgers have reportedly seen enough improvement in his hitting to promote him to Triple-A after 139 games with the Drillers.

He'll split time behind the plate with Dodgers farmhand Hunter Feduccia, who's also having a pretty great offensive year himself (.292 average, .887 OPS) but whose path the big league club is well and truly blocked by Will Smith's 10-year extension and the team's loyalty to Austin Barnes as backup.

Dodgers to promote top prospects Diego Cartaya, Josue De Paula to Triple-A and High-A

Cartaya won't be the only one to get a promotion. No. 2 prospect Josue De Paula, who's been crushing the ball in Single-A this year, will also move up to High-A in what felt like an inevitable move after a season and a half of making hitting look easy with the Quakes.

He's hitting .328 with an .823 OPS during June with a home run and 15 RBI. His power has been a little down this month, but he's had multiple 6+ game hitting streaks, with the longest lasting nine games and amounting to 20 total bases, accentuated by a homer and four RBI.

De Paula's been getting a lot more hype this season, with Keith Law of The Athletic even ranking him No. 16 in the league and first among listed Dodgers prospects. He'll join fellow top 15 prospects Jackson Ferris, Thayron Liranzo, Payton Martin, and Maddux Bruns with the Great Lakes Loons and will look to prove that all of that hype has been warranted.

The Dodgers have yet to announce official moves, but it feels safe to say congrats to the new OKC Dodger and Loon now. Onwards and upwards.