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The Los Angeles Dodgers are planning for Josue De Paula to start everyday as the designated hitter following Shohei Ohtani‘s placement on the 15-day injured list, per staff at Dodger Blue. The move represents an aggressive organizational commitment to keeping the prospect integrated into daily lineup decisions rather than using him purely as a bench depth piece, marking a significant shift in how the team intends to deploy its young talent during the final month.

De Paula, called up from Double-A Tulsa to join the team in Miami this weekend, will step into a role that was supposed to belong to a $700 million franchise player. That kind of immediate, everyday responsibility is unusual for a prospect making his major league debut, particularly so late in the season. But it speaks to both the organizational desperation created by Ohtani’s extended absence and genuine confidence in De Paula’s ability to handle major league pitching at the plate. The left-handed hitter has been one of the organization’s best offensive prospects, and the Dodgers clearly believe his development has progressed far enough to merit starting at-bats against major league rotation. For De Paula personally, this is a baptism by fire. He’s not coming to sit on the bench and learn. He’s coming to produce. That’s a tremendous responsibility for a young player, but it’s also exactly the kind of opportunity that separates prospects who make it from those who fade. De Paula will either step up and deliver, or he’ll falter and get sent back to Triple-A. Either way, he’ll get the chance to prove himself in the role that matters.

For the Dodgers, this represents an acknowledgment of organizational reality: Ohtani is not available for the final month, and the team must find creative solutions to fill the production void he leaves behind. Freddie Freeman remains the lineup anchor, but Freeman is dealing with knee discomfort of his own. Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker anchor the corners, but they can’t carry the entire offensive load alone. Using De Paula as an everyday DH allows the organization to address a positional need while simultaneously advancing a young prospect’s development through game action. Whether De Paula can sustain that role and produce meaningful offensive numbers will determine whether this aggressive move looks brilliant in retrospect or merely desperate. But for now, it shows the Dodgers are refusing to surrender. We lost our franchise player to injury. We’re replacing him with homegrown talent. That’s adaptability. That’s the mentality of a team refusing to accept bad breaks as inevitable defeat.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: September 10, 2026 5:20 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers