Dodgers' Jose De Leon To Make Debut Sunday

The Dodgers began the season with a starting rotation of Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir, Kenta Maeda, Alex Wood and Ross Stripling. Six months later, the most durable of those pitchers has been Maeda—whose medical exam turned up irregularities that led to a very low-risk contract with the Dodgers.

On Sunday, Jose De Leon will become the 15th pitcher to start a game for the Dodgers this season and the fifth rookie, following Maeda, Julio Urias, Ross Stripling and Brock Stewart.

While Urias was the Dodgers’ clear No. 1 pitching prospect entering the season, De Leon impressed some scouts last season while both were at Triple-A Oklahoma City, with one saying De Leon showed better stuff at times.

If not for an ankle sprain in March and shoulder issue in May, De Leon would likely have been the No. 1 prospect at midseason, especially with Corey Seager, Urias and Kenta Maeda graduating.

At Oklahoma City, De Leon, 24, was 7-1, 2.61 and closed with a flourish. He has not given up a run in his past 18 innings, and he has 40 strikeouts since his last walk. In nine second-half starts, he was 6-1, 2.38 with 67 strikeouts in 57 innings and a .194 opponent average.

SCOUTING REPORT

De Leon was born in Puerto Rico, went undrafted out of high school, then spent three seasons as Southern’s ace. The Dodgers nabbed him in the 24th round in 2013, and De Leon’s stock soared after he transformed his body and improved his stuff.

While he transformed his body, the biggest change—pardon the pun—the past two seasons for De Leon has been the improvement of his changeup. It’s at least a plus pitch—with some evaluators stamping it as a plus-plus offering—and one that gets batters off-balance and garners several swings and misses.

This year, however, De Leon’s fastball has again taken center stage. He can touch 95 mph with it when he needs, but most often sits 92-93 with tremendous spin rate and great, late life. He throws it to all quadrants and without elite velocity gets swings and misses, even when in what is generally considered a hitter’s hot zone. His slider is an average-to-tick-above pitch, with tight spin and three-quarters action.

WHAT TO EXPECT

With rosters having expanded and minor league seasons about done, there is no danger De Leon will be farmed out. He is stretched out, and because of the injuries early this season, has plenty of bullets left as the Dodgers attempt to fend off the Giants in the National League West.

He’ll likely get a regular turn down the stretch unless he gets hurt or the Dodgers feel he’s not ready to compete at the level.