Josue De Paula’s bat has earned him a spot on the Dodgers’ NLDS roster, and that decision pushed Dalton Rushing out of the mix.
The move comes after Rushing’s season took a sharp turn following his blistering start. Through an eight-game stretch that ended April 20, the Dodgers’ backup catcher was hitting .444 with seven home runs in 28 plate appearances. After that early explosion, though, the production fell off hard.
Rushing was diagnosed in August with a partially torn UCL in his right elbow, the arm he throws with. He attempted to keep playing, but catching was no longer an option. Los Angeles added Hunter Feduccia and Ben Rortvedt at the Aug. 3 trade deadline, and Feduccia has since taken over as Will Smith’s backup.
The elbow issue kept Rushing from catching, but it also limited him at the plate. He avoided, or at least delayed, surgery, which allowed him to keep hitting.
Even so, he managed only eight plate appearances after Aug. 1, and his last hit came on July 30. Roberts said, "Having eight at-bats in two months just put him behind the eight ball," Roberts said of Rushing.
"The ability not to catch was something that also kind of worked against him. Great conversation with Dalton, great teammate, but I think those are the reasons for De Paula."
That opened the door for De Paula, a 21-year-old rookie who spent the year at Double-A Tulsa before getting his first big-league call-up in September. In 11 games with the Dodgers, he hit .323/.500/.581.
Manager Dave Roberts liked what he saw from the young left-handed bat off the bench. "I think what we saw is a really good idea of the strike zone, quality of contact," Roberts said of De Paula.
"I think that he's really unflappable, good heartbeat. I think that translates into the postseason."
Andrew Friedman also pointed to the poise De Paula has shown since arriving. "The way he came up, obviously we think incredibly highly of him," president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, "and to see the calmness in his at-bats, the ability to look over baseball, the impact just felt like, as a bullet off the bench in big situations, just being able to trust the pulse and the ability."
For Rushing, the numbers tell the story of a season split in two. He finished at .246/.328/.460, with just five home runs in 72 games after that hot first phase. Roberts said the league had already started to catch up to him as a hitter before the elbow injury, while also noting that the injury and his inability to catch worked against him in roster decisions.
De Paula, meanwhile, has become the left-handed pinch-hitting option against the Atlanta Braves, at least for now. Whether that holds up in the postseason is still to be seen, but the Dodgers clearly like what they have in him.
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