ATLANTA — Josue De Paula discovered lots understanding with All-Stars Juan Soto and Elly De La Cruz, however little or no of his training needed to do with their expertise on the baseball area.
The Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect wasn’t searching for tips about his swing or his strategy on the plate; he was extra all for how the pair of stars had been in a position to put together themselves mentally through the grind of the lengthy season.
De Paula — who ranks No. 27 on MLB Pipeline’s Prime 100 prospect record — believes in his bodily instruments, however he is aware of these received’t be sufficient to make him the kind of participant he imagines he will be.
“I really feel like with time, so long as I can dominate my psychological [game], I’ll be in a extremely great place for a really very long time,” De Paula stated. “I acquired a couple of psychological suggestions in simply how they go about their work, easy methods to go about their day, their routine, and simply easy methods to deal with your self within the full season.”
These psychological suggestions helped the 20-year-old keep inside himself on Saturday as he captured the Larry Doby Most Useful Participant Award within the All-Star Futures Sport. De Paula’s three-run dwelling run within the fourth inning in opposition to White Sox No. 1 prospect Noah Schultz erased the American League’s 2-0 deficit, catapulting the Nationwide League to a 4-2 victory at Truist Park.
“It meant lots,” De Paula stated. “I used to be overtaken by feelings, particularly doing it in entrance of my dad. That is one thing that does not occur fairly often.”
That psychological focus was much more necessary throughout De Paula’s game-changing at-bat, as he stepped to the plate with little or no details about the 6’10” lefty he was about to face.
“I simply wished to go up there, see ball, hit ball, understanding that we have no data on these pitchers,” De Paula stated. “There was no method we might have prepped for them.”
A pair of singles by Zyhir Hope and Jesús Made put the tying runs on base, and whereas De Paula was taking note of Schultz’s arsenal, he acquired a take a look at 4 pitches: two sinkers, a changeup and a fastball.
Then Schultz got here after De Paula with three straight sliders.
“One was a ball, one was a strike, then he threw me one other one which was very similar to the final one,” De Paula stated. “So I noticed it and hit it.”
De Paula — who has drawn comparisons to Yordan Alvarez on the plate — launched the pitch over the 16-foot-high brick wall in right-center area. The 108.5 mph blast measured 416 ft, giving the NL a 3-2 lead.
De Paula and Hope — Los Angeles’ No. 2 prospect and No. 37 in MLB Pipeline’s Prime 100 — are teammates on the Excessive-A Nice Lakes Loons, in order he completed rounding the bases and noticed Hope ready for him on the plate, issues felt fairly regular for De Paula.
“We do it usually within the common season,” De Paula stated. “Seeing him work, me and him each going at it on the sector and doing it collectively, him being there for that was an actual assist for me. It simply made the entire course of simpler, him being right here.”
In 78 video games this season, De Paula has 10 dwelling runs, 26 stolen bases and an .834 OPS, however his huge second Saturday will ship him again to Nice Lakes with a larger sense of confidence and perception in himself, one thing that might assist propel him via the Dodgers’ system.
“It is undoubtedly a motivator for me,” De Paula stated. “Mentally, it was a giant second, simply to show to myself who I actually am.”
