José De León

BIOGRAPHY

José Eugenio De León Domenech was born on August 7, 1992, in Isabela, Puerto Rico. He is a pitcher in the MLB.

De León played college baseball at Southern University from 2011 to 2013. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 24th round of the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft. He signed with the Dodgers and made his professional debut with the Arizona League Dodgers. He was later promoted to the Ogden Raptors. De León returned to Ogden to start the 2014 season. After recording a 2.65 earned run average (ERA) and 77 strikeouts in 54 1⁄3 innings, he was promoted to the Great Lakes Loons. In his second start with the Loons, De León had 14 strikeouts, breaking Clayton Kershaw's team record of 12 set in 2007. In four starts with Great Lakes, he had a 1.19 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 22 2⁄3 innings. After the season, he was named the Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year, for his performance that season with Ogden.

De León was assigned to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the California League to start the 2015 season. In seven starts for the Quakes he was 4–1 with a 1.67 ERA and he was promoted to the AA Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League on May 18. He was selected to the California League mid-season all-star team but was unable to participate because of his promotion to AA. He was selected as a second-team Baseball America minor league all-star after the season.

De León had his contract purchased by the Dodgers and was called up to the majors on September 3, 2016, making his debut as the starting pitcher for the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres on September 4. He allowed four runs in six innings in his debut to pick up the win. His nine strikeouts (with no walks) were the second-most by a Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher in his debut, trailing only Pedro Astacio and Kazuhisa Ishii. In four starts for the Dodgers, he was 2–0.