Josue De Paula: Up-And-Coming Dynasty Player

Welcome back, everyone.

The fantasy season is basically over for most leagues as the postseason has begun, and you may or may not still be playing. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still be thinking about fantasy baseball. That is because in dynasty leagues, it is always baseball season.

With that in mind, which players to target during the offseason should always be on your mind. Who to target if they are a free agent, who to target in a trade, and who to make sure you keep are questions to ask and answer frequently, especially before the offseason really gets rolling.

So today the spotlight falls on a player you should be targeting if he is a free agent (for some reason), or go after via trade target, or someone you need to keep no matter how many trade offers you get. That player is Josue De Paula of the Dodgers.

Let’s take a look at the top prospect in the Dodgers’ system.

The Stats

Josue De Paula was born in Brooklyn, but he moved to the Dominican Republic while he was in high school, and thus he was able to avoid the draft. That allowed the Dodgers to swoop in and sign him for $397,500 at the age of 17. De Paula quickly moved through the team’s system, and by 2025 he was ranked as the 47th best prospect by Baseball America entering the season, 40th by MLB and 9th by Baseball Prospectus, which actually jumped on the De Paula hype train one season earlier by ranking him 48th in 2024.

The young left-handed hitting outfielder started this season at Double-A, where he was outstanding. He was slashing .303/.401/.547 with 27 homers, 104 RBI, and 31 steals when he was promoted to the Dodgers after Shohei Ohtani landed on the IL.

The move by the Dodgers to recall De Paula was a rare one by the team. It was the first time in 12 years that the team called up a position player from Double-A.

The Tools

• Power

If anyone had questions about his ability to hit the ball far, De Paula wasted no time proving he can as he blasted this pitch for his first career home run. He nearly had two homers but only lined the ball off the wall on this inside pitch.

While De Paula obviously doesn’t have the at-bats needed to qualify for any hitting rankings as a hitter, when you look at his early Statcast numbers, they are pretty impressive. An AEV of 93.2 mph, compared to the MLB average of 88.6. A Hard Hit% of 58.3%. The MLB average is 37.1%. His Barrel% is 16.7%, way above the league average of 7.6.

Yes, it is VERY early to say he is the next great power hitter. But the tools are there, and despite being only 21, he is not being overmatched by major league pitching through his first week in the league. His ability to consistently barrel the ball and hit with such force should easily lead to 30 homers or more per season. About the only thing preventing him from being an even better power hitter is his ground ball percentage. It was at 40.5% in the minors this season and hovered between 42.8 percent and 46.1% between 2022 and 2024.

• Hit

People love to make comparisons of prospects to some of the players in the majors, but that is unfair to the prospect. That said, De Paula already exhibits traits that could lead him to be in the class of a Juan Soto or Yordan Alvarez when it comes to his plate discipline.

In 462 career minor league games, covering 2,074 plate appearances, Josue De Paula walked 325 times and struck out only 365 times. That is an amazing 15.6% walk rate and 15.6% strikeout rate, all while playing the majority of those games at the age of 20 or younger. This year at Double-A, he ranked second in the Midwest League in OBP, OPS, and walks when he was recalled and had a 13.7% walk rate and a 14.8% strikeout rate.

• Speed

De Paula is not fast. In fact, his sprint speed currently puts him in the 48th percentile of MLB hitters. But the Dodgers have allowed him to be aggressive on the base paths, and the results have been a lot of steals. He had 31 in 41 attempts this year in the minors and had 32 in 2025 and 27 in 2024. And when he runs, he is usually successful, as he has a career success rate of 80%. Will that success carry over in the majors?

That is hard to say. The logical answer is no, as major league catchers are much better at throwing out runners. But at the same time, many major league pitchers are horrible at holding runners, allowing them to get great jumps and beat the throw of the catcher. I don’t think De Paula is going to be a 30-steal-per-season player, but I do think he can be a 15-steal player.

The Results

The results of his first week as a Dodger are a mixed bag depending on what stat you look at. His batting average through his first seven games is sitting at .167. But that is really it when it comes to ugly stats. He has already drawn seven walks compared to only striking out twice. Those walks have him sitting with a .400 OBP.

Despite obviously wanting to impress and show off his hitting ability, Josue De Paula is maintaining his patience at the plate. He certainly doesn’t look overmatched, and that is just a glimpse of what we should see of him going forward.

If for some reason De Paula is a free agent in your league, grab him now. If you already have him on your team, keep him unless you are offered a trade that is just too good to pass up. And if you are trying to trade for him, don’t be surprised by the high asking price.

Thank You

Thanks for reading, and come back again next week.