De Paula optioned to Triple-A after strong debut -- which could earn him NLDS roster spot

LOS ANGELES -- Top prospect Josue De Paula's first stint with the Dodgers is over after an impressive 11-game sample. But he could very well be back with the big league club when the calendar flips to October.​

De Paula, who is MLB Pipeline's No. 6 overall prospect, was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City as the corresponding move to activate Shohei Ohtani from the 15-day injured list. After his first taste of the Majors, De Paula made his Triple-A debut on Wednesday night, batting second and playing left field for the Comets in their win-or-go-home Pacific Coast League championship game.

When the 21-year-old De Paula was called up to take over at designated hitter when Ohtani was officially placed on the IL on Sept. 11, it marked the first time a Dodgers position player had skipped Triple-A since 2014. While he had never seen pitching above the Double-A level, De Paula handled Major League pitching as well as anyone on L.A.'s roster, hitting 10-for-31 (.323) with seven RBIs and seven runs scored. He had more walks (11) than strikeouts (five), reaching base in half of his 42 plate appearances.

"It's what you expect, but you never really know until you see it," president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. "But it obviously really stood out, and he's done everything he can to put himself in a position to be in the conversation for us as we're making our postseason roster."

The Dodgers have been clear that they view De Paula as a DH at this point in time. They believe that he can be a serviceable Major League corner outfielder one day, but he played just six innings in left field during his stint with L.A. Ohtani's return took away the DH at-bats, and the outfield at-bats are spoken for as well.

In the final days of the regular season, the Dodgers expect to make at least one additional roster move, activating Dalton Rushing (right elbow discomfort) so he can audition for a hitter-only role off the bench. That would also take away from the at-bats De Paula could get. The only way for him to potentially get regular at-bats for the foreseeable future was to join Oklahoma City for the Triple-A postseason.

"We have some other guys that need to play, that we got to put eyes on," manager Dave Roberts said. "And to be quite frank, there's just not a lot of at-bats to go around now that Shohei's back. Still got to get [Miguel Rojas] some at-bats, Kiké [Hernández], some other guys at-bats, too. They're hard to come by."

The timing of optioning De Paula on Wednesday kept him as a viable option for the postseason roster. He has to remain in the Minors for a minimum of 10 days before returning to the big league club -- just in time for Game 1 of the NL Division Series. If L.A. secures a first-round bye, then De Paula would be eligible to be on the roster for the entire postseason run.

"He's a part of the conversation, and he's earned that," Roberts said.

Even though De Paula was not on the 40-man roster on Sept. 1, the Dodgers should be able to carry him on their postseason roster. Teams can petition the Commissioner's Office for eligibility as long as the player in question was in the organization on Aug. 31 and would replace a player who is on the IL and has already served the minimum required amount of time for activation. L.A. has several such players on the IL.

While the Dodgers saw enough from De Paula to get an idea of what he could bring to their postseason roster, they only saw him in the role he would serve -- a pinch-hitter -- once. (He drew a walk.) But from the way he conducted his at-bats on a regular basis, the team came away with a strong understanding of how he might handle himself under the lights.

"He's just a special hitter," Roberts said. "Hitters don't see the ball that quickly out of hand; it's a gift. Just the ability to [limit] chase, I think that lines up in the postseason. And no moment is going to be too big for that kid."