Josue De Paula broke his big-league duck in a big way, homering for the Dodgers on Sunday for his first career MLB hit.
With Shohei Ohtani currently on the injured list as he recovers from the injuries that have been hampering his performances as of late, the Los Angeles Dodgers needed a spark to hold on to their position in the standings heading into Sunday. After all, if the season were to end today, the Dodgers would receive a bye into the NLDS.
To that end, the Dodgers decided that giving top prospect Josue De Paula, ranked sixth in MLB.com’s Top 100 prospect rankings, his cup of coffee would be worth it. Giving him a cup of coffee in the middle of a pennant race takes some guts, and this just shows how much belief they have in the 21-year-old outfielder who has had quite an impressive season in Double-A in 2026 (27 home runs, 104 runs batted in, .948 OPS).
De Paula already has two big-league games under his belt heading into the Dodgers’ Sunday afternoon contest against the Miami Marlins, but through eight at-bats, he is yet to get the first hit of his MLB career. But on Sunday, he finally broke through, doing so in a marvelous manner — turning on a 98-mph fastball inside the plate, sending it to the right-field bleachers for a three-run home run to open the scoring in the contest.
Josue De Paula’s first Major League hit is a home run! pic.twitter.com/cPIwjDPxjk
— MLB (@MLB) September 13, 2026
This was a jaw-dropping display of power from the Dodgers rookie, who destroyed that baseball and sent it to the upper deck. It did look like De Paula was in control at the plate from the get-go, as he drew a walk in his first at-bat, and he finally broke his two-game duck in the big leagues by giving the Dodgers the lead. He would even hit a double in the fifth inning in what would be his final at-bat of the night.
The Dodgers decided, however, not to overtax De Paula. In the bottom of the sixth, they sent out Kiké Hernández as a defensive substitution for De Paula.
LA may have needed his bat towards the end of the contest. They ended up suffering a 6-4 loss to the Marlins, dropping the rubber match of a three-game series.
With Shohei Ohtani currently on the injured list as he recovers from the injuries that have been hampering his performances as of late, the Los Angeles Dodgers needed a spark to hold on to their position in the standings heading into Sunday. After all, if the season were to end today, the Dodgers would receive a bye into the NLDS.