Josue DePaula – Friedman’s Do-Over for Yordan Alvarez

Posted By on August 30, 2024

Josue De Paula is making waves as the Dodgers’ #2 prospect, trailing only Dalton Rushing, and he’s also climbed to the #49 spot in MLB’s overall rankings. Baseball America rates him even higher, slotting him as the Dodgers’ second-best and the #39 prospect across all of MLB. The Dodgers have touted De Paula as a top-tier talent within their system for a while now, but he’s rapidly becoming one of the most exciting young players in all of Minor League Baseball, with the potential to be a game-changer for the Dodgers’ future.

De Paula, a 19-year-old outfielder with a sweet left-handed swing, has begun to unlock his power this season, belting 10 homers between Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes. Standing at 6-foot-3, he’s only scratching the surface of his potential as he continues to fill out his tall, projectable frame.

At the plate, De Paula is a picture of poise and precision. His smooth, balanced stroke stays on plane through the hitting zone, allowing him to consistently barrel up balls with authority, regardless of their location. His advanced understanding of the strike zone and knack for high-quality at-bats set him apart as a hitter with both plus-hitting potential and emerging power.

While De Paula’s coordination in the batter’s box is impressive, his skills in the field are still a work in progress. He’s a below-average runner and an average athlete, relying on good reads to make plays in the outfield. As he continues to grow and add muscle, he’s likely to transition to a corner outfield spot or possibly even first base. But don’t let his speed fool you—he draws comparisons to Yordan Alvarez, another player who isn’t known for his speed but has become a formidable force at the plate.

This may be Andrew Freidman’s do-over for letting Yordon Alvarez get away. 😉

Long story… short: Josue DePaula has “superstar” written all over him, but he’s likely at least two years (maybe three) away, so we play the games to see what happens. However, I am very high on DePaula – He is likely Freddie Freeman’s replacement.

Last Night’s Game

Again, the morons were served a heaping helping of crow as they pronounced CT3 dead and buried. He wasn’t! I confess I was one of those morons earlier in the year, but I have been reformed. Morons be morons and stay morons because they are morons. Some of the morons have tried to position themselves as experts because of a variety of reasons and say that Andrew Friedman just needs to admit he made a mistake and release Chris Taylor. Yet, here was Chris with two hits and a walk in 3 ABs. It is so refreshing to not have to read the moronic statements and then have 20 other Dodger Haters pile on with stuff like “I am sure Glasnow and Yamamoto are done.”

I am sorry to keep bringing this up, but I now realize how these small-minded negative haters ruin it for people who truly love baseball. I am glad they are in their own Mental Institution. I have wondered why, over the years that these negative morons come here and I finally have figured it out: Misery Loves Company!” They try and make everyone as miserable as they are. It no longer works on me. Now, back to Dodger Baseball. I will never speak of the morons again! (Maybe)

Observations

  • Bobby Miller is getting close to being the Bobby Miller we knew.
  • Anthony Banda is a bad man! He was an incredible pickup by the Dodgers’ front office.
  • Daniel Hudson had not pitched in quite a while but his velocity is way down. This keeps Joe Kelly in play! Do you question Friedman? Let’s see what Joe does…
  • Of course, Mookie and Teoscar made big contributions to last nights game, but other heroes were guys like Edman, Kike, CT3, Barnes, and Lux. In other words, the bottom of the lineup is producing.
  • Blake Treinen has the guts of a cat burglar.
  • Evan Phillips has fixed what ails him.
  • That damn Ohtani can’t hit leadoff (sarcasm).
  • Now, let’s ruin the D-Bags season!
  • Taylor Rogers is on waivers, but I doubt the Dodgers can get him. He ould be a great addition to the bullpen with his funky delivery.

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This article has 29 Comments

  1. Series win vs probably the best team in the AL without Freeman, yes signs are pointing up.

    Certainly hope we destroy AZ, but lets keep perspective, a split is fine here….play the long game….

    And Go Tigers tomorrow (Clemson!!)

  2. Current rotation depth chart [won’t forget anyone this time!]:

    1. Flaherty
    2. Stone
    3. Kershaw
    4. Buehler
    5. Miller
    6. Knack
    7. Wrobleski

    Yamamoto goes to top when healthy. Glasnow would slot right below him.

  3. Freeman (finger) is expected to return to the Dodgers’ lineup Friday, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.

    “Freeman has been dealing with a hairline fracture in his finger since Aug. 17 and has missed the Dodgers’ last three games. His availability moving forward is dependent on pail tolerance, so Freeman may bow out of the lineup more often than typical down the stretch”.

  4. Glasnow (elbow) will play catch Friday, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.

    “Glasnow’s recovery had been stalled for a few days, but he’ll resume throwing Friday. Manager Dave Roberts shared optimism that Glasnow would return to the mound this season, but he did not commit to that outcome”.

    1. They are being coy, he is fine. This is all about October. I have ZERO concerns he is going to take the ball in the playoffs.

      I just hope he makes a couple starts in reg season b/c I have his season like K OVER rate. Think he needs 8 more for me to cash the bet.

  5. Emil Morales and outfielder Arnaldo Lantigua were named DSL All-Stars. Lantigua, 18, hit .301/.430/.575 with 11 home runs and a 161 wRC+. The Dodgers signed Lantigua out of the Dominican Republic in 2023.

  6. If you are an unhappy, negative person you don’t gain much by hanging around similar people. So you have to find some positive thinking people and try to make their life miserable like yours. So Doc and AF have screwed up so badly this year and caused all these injuries and forced the team to have best record in baseball in baseball with 28 games to go

  7. Kudos to you Mark. Great article on De Paula. My wife’s name is Paula so of course I like him. And the highly accurate and timely information Mr. Forte provides us is invaluable. Thank you Andrew. I hope the boys up in the penthouse do not rest on their laurels. The last two playoff runs sure looked like it. These are professional athletes. Mix up the game planning and strategies and put your opponent on the defensive. And maybe just a little Devine intervention from the big Dodger in the sky.
    Book em

  8. It was actually Farhan Zaidi who traded Yordan Alvarez. He had no idea who he was, according to the story I read. That’s somewhat amazing since the Dodgers gave Alvarez a two million dollar signing bonus. He was just glad the Astros didn’t want Yadier Alvarez, the pitcher. He thought that was who they were asking for in exchange for the Fields.

    As it turns out the Dodgers should have traded Yadier instead. But as I recall they signed him for $15 million during the time they were spending millions and millions of dollars on the international market trying to overcome Frank McCourt’s lack of investment overseas.

    If I recall correctly, none of those players they signed had much impact. Honestly, I’ve never been impressed with Farhan. I remember a lot of LA fans being upset with Zaidi going to the Giants, but other than the one big season, he hasn’t been able to push the Giants to the top. Andrew Friedman was always the guy with the magic.

  10. look at all the teams in the NFL that passed over Tom Brady. No one in the dodger organization had any clue that Yordan Would turn out like he did! I thought Bobby Miller looked really good at times last night. I think he held his emotions in ch Check for the most part I don’t know how much help we get from Miller the rest of the season. But next year, I think he turns out to be a number three or four starter on the Dodgers. ….. now I’m sure Jason Hayward was grinning last night after his double drove into runs. Good for him. I think he just ran out of it playing time with the Dodgers and looking at Freddy last night. He didn’t look too happy. Maybe it’s the finger, or maybe he still pissed about Hayward. Kiki And Chris Taylor just won’t Let us general managers do our jobs! I’ve said no need for both, they said you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about…. I said yesterday, Tommy, Edman Would be a factor the rest of this season. He and Michael Kopech steel might be the best deadline day trade pulled off! Jack Flaherty, excellent pick up, I just don’t think, he is a number one or maybe even a number two starter in the playoffs. I think he fits in as a number three. The long ball, concerns me with Jack. Don’t get me wrong, love the pick up, but I don’t see him back in a dodger uniform next season. I said yesterday I split would be nice, three out of four would be sugar., So sweet! Now it’s time to go get sunburnt at the beach , have a good weekend everybody

    2. Regarding Freddie Freeman, my guess is that he still has a lot on his mind regarding his son’s recovery and he is disappointed in sitting out this series. Though he is no doubt disappointed by Heyward’s release I can’t imagine that it would be affecting his investment in this team.
      It is a real positive development that the Dodgers IFA signings are some of their more highly ranked prospects – DePaula, Vargas, Lantigua, Quintero, Morales, etc. This has not been a reliable source of major league players during the Friedman regime – at least not to the level of many other good organizations. It seems to me that the Dodgers have also had a change in draft philosophy these last two years. They seem to be putting more emphasis on athletes like Kendall George, Kellon Lindsey, and Zyhir Hope (trade with Cubs). If true, I am all for it given the increased value of the stolen base and speed in general as well as defensive range. Even at the major league level, I like the Dodgers’ aggressiveness in stealing bases and running the bases this year.
      Looking forward to a really meaningful series vs. the Diamondbacks this weekend. Going to be fun to see them in this environment with their full roster of position players.

  11. Miller looks close to me. His fastball velo is back up, but it’s a pretty straight fastball and he needs his secondary stuff to be effective. It’s been good at times. Buehler isn’t as close. Too many misses with important pitches, can’t put people away any more when he needs to. Stone looks really good. Flaherty gives up too many HR to make me comfortable.

    I hope that Freddie is reddie!

    Bullpen has been really good.

    I have NEVER been a Joe Kelly fan. He is a 13 year pitcher with 5.5 WAR. This season he has negative .4 WAR and 4.2 BB/9 and WHIP of 1.5. That isn’t going to do it in short relief.

    Backs won’t have Walker tonight so Kershaw is safe.

    Dodgers should be good – they have their current 3 best starters going in the series with Snakes.

  12. Miller revealed after Thursday’s win over the Orioles that he’s been dealing with a left knee issue, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.

    “Miller tweaked the knee during the second inning but remained in the game and got through five frames while allowing three runs. The righty said it’s something he can manage for the rest of the season, so it doesn’t appear at this point that he’s in danger of missing any time. Miller holds a 5.74 ERA and 13:4 K:BB over 15.2 innings covering three starts since rejoining the Dodgers’ rotation earlier this month”.

  14. Why isn’t anyone commenting about Barnes? Typically catchers are THE slowest guy on the roster given how much abuse they absorb to their legs. Yet there he was last night being clutch and even stealing a base with a BROKEN TOE!

    Let’s give him credit for not letting his offensive struggles up to now get him totally down. He’s kept his head up, absorbed a LOT of criticism and has come through. Everyone else gets attention, let’s give him his due for once.

  15. 9:40 PM ET

    Dodgers (80-54)
    Diamondbacks (76-58)

    SP Clayton Kershaw L
    2-2 3.72 ERA
    SP Zac Gallen R
    10-6 3.65 ERA

    Confirmed Lineup
    DH S. Ohtani L
    RF Mookie Betts R
    1B F. Freeman L
    LF T. Hernandez R
    2B Gavin Lux L
    C Will Smith R
    3B Max Muncy L
    CF Tommy Edman S
    SS Miguel Rojas R

    Dome
    Freddie’s back

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