The Dodgers May Have Found Their Next October Weapon

All those star players, all that playoff experience with all that history that is on the line for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and they might be asking a youngster to help lead them navigate the gauntlet of October.

Josue De Paula is not a savior. Not by any means. The Dodgers have a roster that knows what it takes to get through the grind of the playoffs.

But after less than a week in the major leagues, the 21-year-old De Paula is showing that he can at least work a solid at-bat in pressure-packed moments and hit sky-scraping home runs. Anybody’s first few days in the major leagues, surrounded with high expectations, is about as high pressure as it gets.

Add in that De Paula replaced an injured Shohei Ohtani on the roster, then was immediately inserted into the designated-hitter role of the four-time MVP, it is easy to see why he is rising on manager Dave Roberts’ famed “trust tree.”

De Paula made his major league debut Friday, delivered a 416-foot home run for his first major league hit on Sunday and worked five walks over his first four major league games to give him a .500 on-base percentage.

His first clunker of a game came Monday, when he went 0-for-5 and struck out twice after Roberts had raised the stakes and put his youngster in the leadoff spot against the Cincinnati Reds. He still has just two hits over his first 19 plate appearances.

And yet De Paula has been the double espresso the Dodgers needed late in a regular season that has lacked the kind of zip the Dodgers are known for delivering.

Ohtani has labored through biceps and knee soreness that has plagued him since before the All-Star break and hasn’t pitched since July 2. Freddie Freeman has gone through a second-half power outage while only recently missing some games with his own sore knee. Mookie Betts has lacked the regular pop off his bat until recently.

The Dodgers wobbled through a 13-11 July and an even worse 13-14 August. Against playoff contenders in the Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves, they went 1-12 over a 28-day stretch.

There are other issues. Catcher Will Smith missed three months with neck inflammation. Andy Pages is out with a broken hand. And the bullpen is in disarray with closer Edwin Diaz missing most of the year with multiple injuries while Tanner Scott has been navigating his way through traffic on the base paths for a month now.

There is the real possibility the bullpen will be fortified with starters in the postseason like Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski, who was an All-Star in July for his work out of the rotation.

The Dodgers still believe Ohtani will be ready to return as a hitter by the time the playoffs arrive, but Roberts has already cautioned against the idea he will be completely pain free in October. Their belief is that any version of Ohtani is better than none at all.

The Dodgers just need offense of any kind. Their average of 3.9 runs per game in August might not cut it. They want to be somewhere near the 5.0 runs they have averaged all season.

In reality, an average offense might be enough for a starting rotation that is expected to consist of Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoro, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow come playoff time.

De Paula is technically ineligible for the playoff roster but can be added in case of an injury. The Dodgers had hoped to include backup catcher and left-handed power hitter Dalton Rushing in their October plans, but he is currently out with an elbow injury.

De Paula’s path from Double-A to the major leagues last week was paved by an Ohtani injury. His spot in the playoffs could be created by another injury to Rushing. The Dodgers can petition for De Paula to replace an injured player.

All of the excitement De Paula already has generated, by arriving as the team’s top prospect, hasn’t even included a home game yet. That will come Friday in a matchup against the rival San Francisco Giants.

It will be another chance to show how he handles the spotlight. If he continues to rise to the occasion, a chance to suit up for the playoffs is possible, even if it’s a role as a power/on-base potential off the bench.

“I think that our player development group is very confident in his ability to conduct an at-bat,” Roberts said. “…I think that we’ve seen him in (spring-training) camp for two or three years. He doesn’t run from velocity.”

But the playoffs?

“Well, anything’s possible,” Roberts said.