The Show Notes #13: The Dodgers Have a Three-Headed Monster Lurking in the Lower Minors
Left-handed outfielders Zyhir Hope, Josue De Paula, and Kendall George comprise a talented teenage trio who could be wearing Dodgers uniforms by 2026 or 2027.
Introduction
The Los Angeles Dodgers are in a prime position to dominate MLB during the mid-to-late 2020s. The team is built around its stacked position player group that features three Hall of Famers and a handful of All-Stars. There’s three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani, the centerpiece of the entire team and the face of MLB. He’s surrounded by the high-octane infield of first baseman Freddie Freeman, second baseman Hyeseong Kim, third baseman Max Muncy, shortstop Mookie Betts, and backstop Will Smith.
The Dodgers outfield group stands out because it’s the glaring flaw in the construction of Los Angeles’s 25-man roster. Michael Conforto has had injuries ruin a solid and somewhat underrated career. Tommy Edman will probably divide the super-utility/defensive replacement role with Kiké Hernandez. Teoscar Hernandez agreed to a three-year contract with the team during the offseason but has experienced several inconsistent seasons despite winning three Silver Slugger awards. Not to mention he is also on the wrong side of 30. James Outman, already 27, still faces questions about whether he can prove himself to be more than a Quad-A player. Andy Pages is intriguing, but he also has some significant weaknesses in his profile.
Despite being known for pursuing premium free agents and never hesitating to spend significant amounts of money, the Dodgers front office has retained its penchant for identifying and developing homegrown talent from across the world. The irony of the Dodgers putting the finishing touches on the double-barrel Death Star it is currently constructing with three homegrown outfielders would be priceless. It reminds me of Heath Ledger’s The Joker lighting that giant pile of money on fire in “The Dark Knight.” Sometimes when you get what you want, you have to push the envelope even further somehow.
There are three Black outfielders with immense ceilings lurking in the lower levels of the Los Angeles farm system: Kendall George, Josue De Paula, and Zyhir Hope. They possess the tools and skills needed to persuade the Dodgers' brain trust to quickly advance them through the upper minors on a win-now team. Their distinct playing styles, both at the plate and in the outfield grass, complement each other very well. I believe this left-handed trio has the collective potential that is almost equal to the impressive Meyer-Campbell-Anthony combination in Boston’s farm system. The only thing that is left to see is how George, Hope, and De Paula fare against pitching in the upper minors.
Kendall George
20-year-old Kendall George possesses all the essential qualities of a full-time center fielder and an ideal leadoff hitter. He was drafted by the Dodgers as the 36th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, coming out of Atascocita High School in Humble, Texas. He forewent a commitment to Arkansas’s baseball program to start his professional career after agreeing to terms and accepting a signing bonus of over one million dollars. The Texas native was graded as the fastest position player and one of the top outfielders in his draft class. George was the highest draft pick taken from high school by the Dodgers brass since Gavin Lux was selected 20th overall in the 2016 MLB Draft.
He made his professional debut during the 2023 MiLB season with a 28-game cup of coffee in the Arizona Complex League and California League, posting a .370/.458/.420 slash line. George appeared in 86 games for Los Angeles’s Low-A affiliate during the 2024 MiLB season, going .279/.384/.328 with four triples and 36 stolen bases while being a little over two years younger than the average player in the California League. He battled injury issues during the 2024 season, preventing a mid-season call-up to High-A despite dominating Low-A with his on-base skills and defense.
George works from the left-handed batter’s box with a slightly squatted stance and his hands held perpendicular to his ear. His swing is quiet, simple, and well-balanced. His approach is oriented around putting balls in play up the middle and to the opposite field for singles. He cannot accrue extra-base hits consistently because of the lack of upper-body strength and poor lower-body implementation in his swing. His lack of strength and opposite field-oriented approach makes it difficult for him to accrue extra-base hits. His ability to discern between balls/strikes appears to be advanced and he able to make adjustments on a pitch-by-pitch basis. While he has posted double-digit walk rates throughout his brief time in the lower minors, it will be important to observe how much his on-base skills stand out as he climbs into the upper minors and faces better pitchers.
Kendall George’s future as a center fielder is almost guaranteed due to his elite athleticism. He has a top-of-the-scale range that gives him plenty of room for error. The first three to five steps toward a ball put in play are the most important for a center fielder, and George has to correct himself often. His main defensive flaws are below-average throwing arm strength and subpar route running prowess, which puts some legitimate left field only risk in George’s profile. If he can improve his initial burst and ability to run direct routes instead of solely relying on his speed, he will be a Gold Glove candidate.
George’s base stealing process is hinged around sheer athleticism instead of strategy and timing, although he has plenty of time to develop a sound technique. While he did swipe 36 bags during the 2024 MiLB season, George led the league in times caught stealing(12) despite playing in just 86 of a possible 110 games. He has shown the key traits of an elite table-setter, scoring 75 runs in a little over 400 plate appearances during the 2024 MiLB season despite missing a substantial amount of time due to injury. When considering his on-base skills alongside his top-tier athleticism, George has a real opportunity to become one of the most productive baserunners of his generation.
Zyhir Hope
Zyhir Hope is a 20-year-old from Stafford County, Virginia who would hypothetically slot into right field in this outfield alignment. By his senior year, he was seen as one of the best high school players across the entire East Coast by NCAA and MLB scouts. Some teams preferred him as a left-handed starting pitcher, while others wanted him to be a full-time position player. He has above-average raw power and speed to go with a borderline plus throwing arm in the frame of an SEC running back. Scouts described him as a “toolshed” because of these attributes.
He was a 2nd or 3rd-round talent who fell to the 11th round of the 2023 MLB Draft because of a strong commitment to the University of North Carolina’s baseball program. The Chicago Cubs were able to sway him away from attending UNC with an above-slot signing bonus and the opportunity to start his professional career three years sooner than he would if he went to college. Hope’s professional career began in 2023 with 11 games in the Arizona Complex League. He received a massive amount of hype from scouts after joining the Cubs organization. He was labeled as a top prospect in the Cubs farm system despite not having accrued much time in MiLB.
Between the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Hope was traded with fellow prospect Jackson Ferris to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Michael Busch and Yency Almonte. He only appeared in 62 games during the 2024 MiLB because of a shoulder injury that happened after he crashed into an outfield wall chasing a fly ball in April. He also played 23 games in the 2024 Arizona Fall League. The 20-year-old has a .289/.419/.492 career slash line in only 73 career MiLB games, but the caveat is he has yet to play in High-A or Double-A. The 2025 MiLB season will be essential in determining Hope’s trajectory towards the majors.
Hope uses a slightly closed stance with his hands held low, between his chin and chest. He has an average hit tool with easy plus power to his pull side. He is developing his feel for accruing extra-base hits up the middle and the other way but has no issue dumping offerings off for singles with emergency swings. His on-base skills have proven to be above-average to plus so far, but how he fares in High-A and Double-A against legitimately talented pitching prospects will be telling. His reverse splits against right-handed and left-handed pitchers are huge markers of future success against MLB-caliber pitching.
There is a chance Hope will stick in center field but he profiles more as a corner outfielder because of the lack of acceleration and quick burst. While he does have 55-grade speed, it takes him slightly longer to get to a full sprint. Even as a full-time corner outfielder, Hope will have to cover a lot of ground in the spacious outfields scattered around the National League, the NL West especially. His route running and reads do not stand out although he has not accrued much time in MiLB because of injuries and age, so the verdict is still out on that front.
Josue De Paula
19-year-old Brooklyn, New York native Josue De Paula has the highest ceiling and the safest floor of the trio despite being a full-time corner outfielder. He is a prototypical corner fielder, bringing a big bat and a big arm to the table in a big frame. He comes from a family that has produced multiple professional athletes, as he is cousins with Sebastian Telfair and Stephon Marbury. De Paula moved to the Dominican Republic from NYC with his immediate family at 15 to train at El Niche Baseball Academy. El Niche has produced talents such as Elly De La Cruz and Juan Soto.
De Paula's decision to become an international amateur free agent gave him more control over his career compared to staying in the United States and being drafted directly out of high school or college. Although he was a talent worthy of a first or second-round draft pick, he forfeited a significant amount of money by choosing to be an amateur international free agent. This choice allowed him to negotiate with any interested teams rather than waiting to see who would select him and in what round. Additionally, it enabled him to begin his professional career almost two years earlier than most of his peers from American high schools.
De Paula signed with the Dodgers in January 2022 and his professional career started during the 2022 MiLB season with one of the best performances by a teenage position player in Dominican Summer League history. He slashed .350/.448/.522 across 54 games, displaying a brilliant combination of contact ability, on-base skills, baserunning acumen, and power well beyond his years. The Dodgers front office had the lanky left-hander skip the Arizona Complex League and move directly to Low-A Rancho Cucamonga for the 2023 season, going .284/.396/.372 in 74 games. He struggled to accrue extra-base hits but continued to display elite on-base skills and great baserunning acumen.
De Paula spent time with the Dodgers’ Low-A and High-A affiliates during the 2024 season. He went .268/.404/.405 across 108 games between the two levels. He slightly adjusted his approach to lift the ball more without giving up any ability to make contact and the results were positive. His offensive performance made him one of the highest-rated teenage prospects in all of Minor League Baseball for the 2025 season.
De Paula is built like an NBA shooting guard, standing between 6’4’’ and 6’5’’ with long arms and legs. He stands in the left-handed batter’s box with a slightly open stance, using a smooth and quiet swing. He is an extremely advanced hitter, especially for his age. His ability to make contact is above-average and he does not strike out a lot despite having elite on-base skills and being so relatively inexperienced because of his youth. He has prodigious raw power but hits the ball in the air at a below-average rate, which hamstrings his ability to accrue extra-base hits. He seems to always have a sound plan with the bat in his hands, never appearing flustered or frazzled mid-at-bat.
De Paula is a gifted base stealer despite not having above-average raw foot speed. His ability to discern the opposing battery’s game plan and pick the right pitches to run on is an extremely unique quality. So far in his career, he has stolen 57 career bases while only being caught 12 times. He is engaged on the base paths because of his high baseball IQ and high motor.
The Dodgers front office believes De Paula has the tools to be an above-average defender and they have openly challenged him to improve his heavily-flawed glove work. His reads and route running need to be improved. While he does not have the raw sprint speed to cover a ton of ground, he has the baseball IQ and mobility to take a major leap forward as a defender in those aspects. He also brings a plus arm to the table which is a bit inaccurate and needs work in its regard.
Conclusion
The Dodgers have a long history of developing successful Black outfielders that span the entire Integration Era. Notable names include Pedro Guerrero, Tommy Davis, Willie Davis, Dusty Baker, Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, and Roberto Clemente. The three young outfielders discussed in this piece have the potential to represent the latest generation of homegrown Black stars for the organization with arguably the richest Black history of any team in MLB.
Kendall George is an underrated prospect in a farm system loaded with depth in the upper and lower minors. If he wants to do more than be a trade chip or organizational depth piece, he has to find a way to make a greater offensive impact in the batter’s box and on the basepaths. He has a lot of tools and skills to work with so it will be interesting how much of his talent gets realized as he accrues more time in MiLB. In Zyhir Hope’s case, the only flaws in his profile are relatively minor. If he can stay healthy and perform against opposing pitchers in the upper minors, he will find a spot on a major league team’s ball club quickly. Josue De Paula’s extremely high floor and monstrous ceiling make him the centerpiece of this trio. If he figures out how to accrue extra-base hits at a higher rate and improves as a corner outfielder, he will most likely make his MLB debut before his 21st birthday.