Dodgers Reinstate Shohei Ohtani, Option Josue De Paula

The Dodgers have reinstated designated hitter Shohei Ohtani from the injured list and optioned outfielder Josue De Paula to Triple-A as the corresponding move, per Katie Woo of The Athletic. Woo notes that De Paula is still a candidate for a postseason roster spot, despite this move.

The status of Ohtani is a major storyline for the coming weeks. Normally a two-way player, he has been reduced to hitting only. Left knee and right biceps issue have hampered him this season and he hasn’t pitched since early July. His production at the plate also fell off, as he hit .122/.295/.184 from August 19 to September 7, striking out at a 34.4% clip in that time.

The Dodgers finally decided that an IL stint was needed. Since Ohtani is designated as a two-way player, he had to go on the 15-day IL for pitchers, rather than the 10-day IL for position players. He will now have a few games to take some at-bats and try to get back on track, though another gap is likely coming up. The Dodgers are five games up on Atlanta for a first-round bye with five games left to play. Atlanta has the tiebreaker, so it’s not officially sewn up yet, but the Dodgers will almost certainly be sitting out the Wild Card round.

While Ohtani has been out, De Paula has been getting some big league exposure. The Dodgers promoted him straight from Double-A, skipping him over Triple-A, and have been using him as the designated hitter. He has done very well in his first 42 plate appearances, with one home run, a massive 26.2% walk rate, excellent 11.9% strikeout rate, .323/.500/.581 line and 198 wRC+. It’s a tiny sample but obviously very encouraging.

As noted by Woo, De Paula could still secure a spot on the postseason roster. But for now, he doesn’t have a path to much playing time. He’s not considered an especially strong defender in the outfield corners, so the Dodgers will be opting for more experienced players like Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker out there. The DH spot is obviously now spoken for, assuming Ohtani stays healthy the rest of the way. For now, he’ll be playing in the Triple-A playoffs, per Oklahoma City Comets broadcaster Alex Freedman.

Now that he has been optioned, De Paula can’t be recalled for a minimum of ten days, unless someone else needs to go on the IL. But that ten-day window is enough time for him to potentially come back for the NLDS, which starts October 3. Per Woo, De Paula is in the mix for a bench spot, though it will be down to him and Dalton Rushing for that spot.

Rushing has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow. He can’t throw right now and is currently on the IL but he could be reinstated this week and would still be able to hit. He has a strong .249/.332/.466 line as a hitter this year. That’s not as impressive as De Paula’s slash but Rushing put up his numbers in a larger sample of 250 plate appearances. Though Rushing could be reinstated before the season is done, it will be hard for him to get at-bats with Ohtani needing to get reps in the DH spot.

“To be quite frank, it’s going to be tougher for Dalton, given the time that he’s missed, and to kind of think that you have three games to get back in playoff form,” manager Dave Roberts said, per Woo. “It’s not a knock on him. He’s been great for us. But it’s still tough, given that also you’re talking about the consistency of at-bats recently from Josue.”

Both Rushing and De Paula are effectively considered hitters only, Rushing due to his arm and De Paula due to his lack of trust as a defender. With Ohtani in the DH spot, Woo relays that the Dodgers would like to carry one as a bench bat but can’t really afford to have both.