Dave Roberts Addresses Josue De Paula's Spot on Dodgers Postseason Roster

The Los Angeles Dodgers are under the biggest microscope in baseball as the regular season comes to a close. With October right around the corner, all eyes are on LA to see if they will win three consecutive championships for the first time in MLB in a quarter-century.

Superstar Shohei Ohtani has not been fully healthy essentially since the All-Star break, when he was scratched from not only his final start of the first half, but from all All-Star-related activities. After being shut down from pitching in early July, the concern has only grown coming out of an August where he only attained a .241 batting average for the month.

After Ohtani was placed on the injured list, Josue De Paula appeared to be the answer for the lack of Ohtani in the lineup.

Though it is obvious that De Paula will not be pitching, his offense has the potential to start to fill the enormous Ohtani-sized shoes. In Double-A, the 21-year-old slashed .303/.401/.547 with 27 home runs and 104 RBIs, leading to a call-up that preceded any Triple-A action.

De Paula was hitless during the first two games of his MLB career, but earned his first hit via a towering fourth-inning home run last Sunday.

Due to his astounding minor league track record, his 92.6 mph exit velocity at the MLB level thus far, and the fact that the organization didn't feel the need for him to move up to Triple-A, there have been murmurs as to what his spot on a postseason roster may be.

Manager Dave Roberts spoke on if De Paula should be under consideration for a roster spot, even though he will have less than a month of MLB knowledge come October.

“Yeah, he should be [under consideration],” Roberts said. “This is more of a trial run, no promises. Just obviously having Shohei down and giving a guy that’s performed well an opportunity. Then you just sort of see where it takes us.

"I think right now that’s kind of where we’re at and take it day to day. I just hope he continues to perform and take those at-bats and then we’ll kind of see where we’re at in September.”

Roberts also clarified that the rookie's status for the postseason even being a potential storyline says more about the maturity and talent of De Paula.

“It’s been good that you can even bring that question up,” Roberts said. “But it’s still very early as far as however many at-bats or plate appearances he has taken. But in this small sample, yeah, it’s been good. But it’s certainly a much different level of focus with the postseason. But baseball is still baseball. I hope he makes our decision hard.”

Across seven games thus far, De Paula is 3-for-18 (.167) with one home run, four RBIs, seven walks and an OPS of .789.

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