ATLANTA — The center fielder for the Dodgers’ Class A Great Lakes affiliate is a former first-round draft pick. The other two outfielders were selected for the Futures Game.
Who’s the best outfielder on the team?
“We’re all good, brother,” said the left fielder, Josue De Paula. “We’ve all got talent. We all excel somewhere.
“Us together? It’s a dream squad. I don’t feel like you see that much talent that often.”
De Paula flashed his considerable talent Saturday, hitting a three-run homer that decided the National League’s 4-2 victory over the American League and earned him the Futures Game most valuable player award.
The only other Dodgers prospect to win that award: infielder Chin-Lung Hu, in 2007.
“This is definitely motivating for me,” DePaula said. “Mentally, it was a big moment, to prove, especially to myself, who I really am.”
De Paula’s home run traveled 416 feet, triggering a round of fireworks in the sky and a lump in De Paula’s throat as he crossed home plate.
“I was overtaken by emotion,” he said, “especially doing it in front of my dad.”
His father lives in New York City. The Midwest League is far away.
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.
“Baseball called me,” De Paula said. “I fell in love with it at a young age.”
Zyhir Hope, the Great Lakes right fielder, also appeared in the Futures Game. He singled ahead of DePaula and scored on the home run, so he was waiting at home plate to congratulate De Paula.
“We do it often,” De Paula said, smiling.
Hope, also 20, smiled when asked what he liked about De Paula’s game.
“Everything,” he said. “He takes it easily. He’s calm, relaxed and laid back, but he works hard. He’s a great dude.”
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.
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 system — the Dodgers got him in the Michael Busch trade — to a gap hitter with speed.
This is the time of year, of course, where contenders trade prospects to fill major league needs. Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, rarely trades his top prospects, and De Paula ranks No. 1 in the Dodgers’ farm system. On the other hand, the Dodgers need pitching help.
“I do want to get to L.A. I hope that’s in God’s plans,” De Paula said. “At the end of the day, we never make the decisions. We’ve just got to focus on what we need to do on the field and whatever happens, happens.
“But I really do hope I become a Dodger and I stay there for a very long time.”