A few stories to start your Monday morning, as the Dodgers shift their road trip from Miami to Cincinnati.
Josue De Paula played his first three major league games over the weekend, but before stepping into the box for the first time on Friday was already displaying controlled confidence. From Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:
“Nothing I feel I really have to change especially on the offensive side. Just do what I know how to do,” he said, acknowledging that he doesn’t think making a bid for a spot on the postseason roster is out of the question.
“Yeah. I mean, that’s always in the back of your head too. But I don’t want to get too ahead of myself now. I’m trying to focus on the now and having fun while I’m here.”
De Paula walked at least once in all three games, then lowered the boom on Sunday with a three-run home run for his first major league hit, then added a double.
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“I’ll never forget it,” De Paula said of his home run on Sunday. “It was awesome.”
Even with De Paula graduated to the majors, the Dodgers still have a slew of exceptional outfield prospects in the minors, including Eduardo Quintero and Charles Davalan. Jesse Borek wrote about the High-A Great Lakes prospect trio of Quintero, Davalan, and shortstop Emil Morales, and the great seasons they had.
Mookie Betts on Saturday hit the 10,000th home run in Los Angeles Dodgers history. Dodgers historian Mark Langill last week wrote about infielder Dick Gray, who hit the first LA Dodgers homer back in 1958.
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Hannah Fry at the Los Angeles Times on Sunday wrote about the two weeks of turbulence for Los Angeles-area sports owners, including Dodgers owner Mark Walter selling the Lakers less than a year after buying them (amid ongoing federal investigations), Rams owner Stan Kroenke buying the Angels, and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer getting suspended by the NBA for salary cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard.
I missed this a few weeks ago, but Brady and Trey Ebel, first-round picks of the Milwaukee Brewers in the last two years had a connected moment in the minors. Brady and Trey, the sons of Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel, were fixtures at Dodger Stadium during summers when they were at Corona High School, often practicing on the field.
Brady Ebel started the season in Class-A Wilson in North Carolina, and on July 19 started at shortstop and was hit by a pitch and scored in a six-run first inning. The game was suspended by rain with two outs in the top of the first inning and a 2-0 count on Brady, batting for a second time in the game already. Play wasn’t resumed until August 25, and by then, Brady was promoted to High-A Wisconsin. So Wilson put Trey Ebel in for Brady to complete the plate appearance, and he took two more balls to work a full-count walk, which was credited to Trey.
From MiLB.com:
“I was in the cage this morning, and when they sent out what we’re gonna do for the game, I was like, ‘No way! This is crazy,'” Trey said after the game. “How cool is that? I don’t know if that’s been done before, having the younger brother finish [an older brother’s] at-bat. I’m super stoked.”
Read the full article here