Dodgers Jose De Leon: The New Pitcher to Own?
By Bill Pivetz
The Dodgers have suffered a lot of injuries to their rotation this season. After the most recent injury news, top prospect Jose De Leon could make his debut on Saturday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of the hottest teams in the second half. The team has been successful even with the loss of many starting pitchers. There is one bright side for the Dodgers and fantasy owners. Top prospect Jose De Leon is probable to get called up and make his first MLB start on Saturday. He pitched well in Triple-A, but could that translate to success in the majors?
De Leon made 15 starts in Triple-A this season. He is 6-1 with a 2.86 ERA, 0.979 WHIP and 11.2 K/9. In his most recent start, he had a no-hitter into the seventh inning and finished with 10 strikeouts. He has two consecutive starts with double-digit strikeouts and zero walks.
With the amount of starting pitchers that made their debut this season, it is surprising that De Leon has been kept down in the minors this long. In addition, the number of Dodgers pitchers that found themselves on the DL is extremely high.
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The leading man is ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw. He is on the 60-day DL. Alex Wood is also on the 60-day DL. The Dodgers added two more names to the list on Tuesday. Both Scott Kazmir and Brett Anderson were placed on the 15-day DL.
This leaves Julio Urias, Kenta Maeda, Ross Stripling, Bud Norris and Rich Hill as the viable options in the rotation. While that is enough to man a 5-man rotation, the numbers from Norris and Stripling are not that good and Hill only made one start since being traded from Oakland. Enter De Leon.
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Fantasy owners are ahead of the Dodgers. De Leon has been added in 3.1 percent of ESPN leagues over the last week. His total ownership percentage is at 6.1 percent. With just a couple of weeks left of the fantasy season, every bit helps. If De Leon pitches close to what he did in Triple-A, then there’s a lot of potential for success.