{"id":18829,"date":"2025-07-18T11:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T11:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/18829\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T11:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T11:45:10","slug":"josue-de-paula-wants-to-be-a-dodger-for-a-very-long-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/18829\/","title":{"rendered":"Josue De Paula wants to be a Dodger ‘for a very long time’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The center fielder for the Dodgers<\/a>\u2019 Class A Great Lakes affiliate is a former first-round draft pick. The other two outfielders were selected for the Futures Game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s the best outfielder on the team?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all good, brother,\u201d said the left fielder, Josue De Paula<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve all got talent. We all excel somewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cUs together? It\u2019s a dream squad. I don\u2019t feel like you see that much talent that often.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Paula flashed his considerable talent Saturday, hitting a three-run homer that decided the National League\u2019s 4-2 victory over the American League and earned him the Futures Game most valuable player award.<\/p>\n

The only other Dodgers prospect to win that award: infielder Chin-Lung Hu, in 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is definitely motivating for me,\u201d De Paula said. \u201cMentally, it was a big moment, to prove, especially to myself, who I really am.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Paula\u2019s home run traveled 416 feet, triggering a round of fireworks in the sky and a lump in De Paula\u2019s throat as he crossed home plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was overtaken by emotion,\u201d he said, \u201cespecially doing it in front of my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father lives in New York City. The Midwest League is far away.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the major leagues are not so far away. De Paula is 20, but he is in his fourth pro season. The Dodgers signed him out of the Dominican Republic, but he was born in New York City and he is a second cousin of former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball called me,\u201d De Paula said. \u201cI fell in love with it at a young age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zyhir Hope<\/a>, the Great Lakes right fielder, also appeared in the Futures Game. He singled ahead of De Paula and scored on the home run, so he was waiting at home plate to congratulate De Paula.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do it often,\u201d De Paula said, smiling.<\/p>\n

Hope, also 20, smiled when asked what he liked about De Paula\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything,\u201d he said. \u201cHe takes it easily. He\u2019s calm, relaxed and laid back, but he works hard. He\u2019s a great dude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the season, Baseball Prospectus ranked De Paula and Hope among the top 10 prospects in baseball. Currently, MLB Pipeline ranks both among the top 40.<\/p>\n

De Paula offers power, speed, and advanced plate discipline, although scouts wonder whether he can stick in left field or might need to try first base or designated hitter. Hope has advanced from a good-fielding prospect with uncertain hitting skills in the Chicago Cubs\u2019 system \u2014 the Dodgers got him in the Michael Busch trade \u2014 to a gap hitter with speed.<\/p>\n

This is the time of year, of course, where contenders trade prospects to fill major league needs. Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers\u2019 president of baseball operations, rarely trades his top prospects, and De Paula ranks No. 1 in the Dodgers\u2019 farm system. On the other hand, the Dodgers need pitching help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do want to get to L.A. I hope that\u2019s in God\u2019s plans,\u201d De Paula said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we never make the decisions. We\u2019ve just got to focus on what we need to do on the field and whatever happens, happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I really do hope I become a Dodger and I stay there for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The center fielder for the Dodgers\u2019 Class A Great Lakes affiliate is a former first-round draft pick. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[1558,17441,3959,4279,17437,17439,17440,15457,17435,17436,8468,363,1999,11258,2095,99,17438],"class_list":["post-18829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-depaula","tag-dodger","tag-dodgers","tag-futures-game","tag-hitter","tag-home-plate","tag-home-run","tag-josue-de-paula","tag-long-time","tag-major-league","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-city","tag-prospect","tag-speed","tag-sports","tag-zyhir-hope"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}