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Josue De Paula expressed his surprise and disbelief at the opportunity to make his major league debut following Shohei Ohtani‘s placement on the 15-day injured list, per staff at Dodger Blue. The prospect’s reaction underscores both the unexpected nature of his promotion and the organizational confidence the Dodgers have placed in him to step directly into an everyday designated hitter role despite limited major league experience.

De Paula represents a significant milestone in the Dodgers’ organizational development under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. He is the first position player prospect to be promoted directly from Double-A Tulsa to the major leagues during Friedman’s tenure. That distinction carries weight beyond just De Paula’s individual moment—it signals organizational comfort with accelerating prospect development timelines when circumstances demand it and confidence that their minor league evaluation systems have accurately assessed his readiness. De Paula’s disbelief about the opportunity speaks to the reality that prospects dream of calls like this but rarely expect them to arrive on such a compressed timeline. One day he’s playing Double-A ball. The next, he’s preparing for major league at-bats against professional pitching. That kind of sudden acceleration can either launch a career or overwhelm a young player. For De Paula, his mental approach to this opportunity will matter as much as his physical tools. The disbelief he expressed could turn into confidence or could turn into doubt. How he processes the shock of this promotion over the next few days will shape his early performance.

For the Dodgers, De Paula’s reaction provides organizational reassurance that the prospect understands the magnitude of this opportunity and is taking it seriously. He’s not approaching this as an extended audition or a casual evaluation period. He’s coming in with genuine respect for how significant this moment is. That’s the mindset you want from a young player stepping into everyday at-bats for the first time. The fact that he’s the first position player from Tulsa to be promoted directly under Friedman speaks to how much organizational confidence exists in his development pipeline and how willing the front office is to trust that pipeline when injuries force adaptation. De Paula’s debut will be closely monitored not just for his individual performance but for what it signals about how the organization evaluates and develops prospects. If De Paula succeeds and produces at the major league level—even in a limited capacity—it validates the prospect development system. If he struggles, it raises questions about whether promoting him this quickly was premature. Either way, this moment defines a developmental era for the Dodgers organization.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: September 12, 2026 1:00 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers