Toolshed: Patience paying off for De Leon

There are questions surrounding Jose De Leon, like any pitcher, though these days most of the ones around the Oklahoma City right-hander start with "When."

The Dodgers have 15 players on the Major League 15- or 60-day disabled list, and six of them are starting pitchers: Rich Hill, Clayton Kershaw, Brandon McCarthy, Bud Norris, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Alex Wood. As the organization's top pitching prospect (following the graduation of Julio Urias) plying his trade at Triple-A, De Leon has become an obvious replacement candidate as the Dodger fan base points to the 24-year-old any time a spot becomes open. Yet De Leon has not been among the 13 pitchers to make at least one start for Los Angeles this season.

But oddly enough, it took a couple of injuries of his own for De Leon to learn the patience necessary to wait his turn in the Pacific Coast League, and that patience could soon pay off for the pitcher and the organization.

Coming off a 2015 campaign in which he ranked fourth in the Minors with 163 strikeouts over 114 1/3 innings between Double-A Tulsa and Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga, 2016 appeared to be De Leon's big year. MLB.com had pegged him as the No. 24 overall prospect in the game and third-best in the Dodgers system behind Corey Seager and Urias. But then, an ankle injury suffered in Spring Training kept him out of what was supposed to be the first month of his Triple-A career. He returned to the mound for his Oklahoma City debut on May 3, striking out nine over five scoreless frames, but right shoulder soreness forced him back to the DL for a month.

"Being hurt like that was disappointing for sure, but the biggest thing was knowing how to be patient," said the 2013 24th-round pick. "Everybody likes to compete and get out there as quick as you can, but sometimes if you rush things, if you don't take the right amount of time, that's when you have bigger problems. You have to trust that everyone is doing the best for you and that everything is going to work out. Then when you get the chance to show that you're ready again, you have to go out and prove it."

The Puerto Rico native has done just that. Since June 30 -- when the Dodgers started to loosen the reins a bit after the shoulder injury and allowed him to throw more than 80 pitches for the first time since his debut in May -- De Leon is 5-1 with a 3.04 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 59 strikeouts and only 14 walks in nine starts (53 1/3 innings). He owns a 3.14 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 71 2/3 frames with Oklahoma City, while his 11.1 K/9 rate is tops among Triple-A pitchers with at least 70 innings under their belts this season.

Those numbers have done nothing to quiet the calls for De Leon's ascension, of course. He was heavily rumored to replace the injured Norris on Aug. 6 -- a day in which he was scheduled to pitch for Oklahoma City -- before Ross Stripling got the nod instead. 

But perhaps there has been something fortuitous about De Leon staying down, something that came to light this week. The righty was warming up in the bullpen Wednesday for a 7:05 p.m. local start at Chickasaw Brickton Ballpark when the late August sun caught too much of his eye. Like any good baseball player, he made an adjustment, one that might stick for a while. 

"I had never really had that before where the sun was straight in my eyes like that, so I moved over my hat and moved it down a little bit," De Leon said. "That forced me to get my head lower when I was throwing, and I was able to stay more in line with the plate and release the ball way more in front of me and really drive it. It felt good from the get-go.... The way I felt [Wednesday] was the best way I've felt my whole life. I was just trying to shield my eyes."

It didn't take long for De Leon to reap the rewards from that adjustment. He threw an immaculate first inning against Albuquerque -- nine pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts -- and tied a season high with 10 strikeouts while allowing two earned runs on six hits without walking a batter over seven frames in a 3-2 win. True to his point about improved command, 86 of De Leon's 109 pitches (or 79 percent) went for strikes. On the season, his strike percentage is 68 percent over 14 appearances.

The trick came at a great time, considering the audience he had for his latest gem. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was in the house in Oklahoma City for De Leon's start Wednesday. The pitcher and executive didn't exchange much more than pleasantries, but Friedman's presence alone didn't go unnoticed by the Triple-A hurler as a potential Major League audition.

"To be honest, I've been doing that last year, too," he said. "Even when I was far away, I'm trying to prove that I'm a big-league pitcher. I'm getting closer and closer, and to me, that's fun to pitch with that on the line when you know people are watching like that. I like pitching under that kind of pressure, and it pushes me."

While it's still not clear when De Leon will face the pressure of the Majors, there remain some answers to the questions about why he hasn't done so yet. Since he's not currently on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers would have to either designate someone for assignment or move someone from the 15-day to the 60-day DL to make room. That's not impossible, of course, but it makes it easier to promote someone like Stripling, who was added to the 40-man last November, or Urias.

Also, by his own admission, De Leon has things to improve upon. He's trying to make his delivery more deceptive -- "I show the ball behind my butt sometimes too much" -- and he's working on tightening his breaking ball to make it as useful a weapon as his plus fastball and changeup offerings, though he added that the pitch was at its best after Wednesday's adjustments. 

The good news is that the reins are off in terms of pitch and innings limits after earlier injuries (which he calls "a blessing in disguise") knocked De Leon off the mound. He has only thrown 71 2/3 innings this season with only a little more than two weeks left in the Pacific Coast League season. He estimates there are about 70 innings still left in the tank, and that should give both De Leon and the Dodgers plenty to play with, whenever that call comes.

"They haven't said anything to me directly or anything like that," he said. "I'm staying focused to go day-by-day right now. I'm not thinking about being called up tomorrow, next year or in September. I'm focused on improving.... I don't like to think about that stuff too much, other than what I'm supposed to be doing to be ready to go. I don't put too much pressure because of outside stuff. I like the right kind of pressure, which comes from myself, not others. I just want to give my team a chance to win, whatever team that is."