José De Paula

José Alberto De Paula Carmona

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 170 lb.

• Debut June 21, 2015
• Final Game June 21, 2015
• Born March 4, 1988 in Villa Mella, Santo Domingo D.R.

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Biographical Information

José De Paula pitched one game in the majors but starred in Taiwan later, winning CPBL MVP and a pitching Triple Crown.

He was signed by San Diego Padres scout Felix Francisco in 2006. He was 2-5 with a 2.44 ERA for the DSL Padres in 2007, fanning 78 in 66 1/3 IP. He had a 4-3, 3.57 record for the 2008 AZL Padres, again with over a K per IP. He tied Kyle Ocampo for 4th in the Arizona League with 56 K. In 2009, he was 1-0 with a 2.79 ERA for the Eugene Emeralds.

By 2010, he was up to the Fort Wayne TinCaps, posting a 8-5, 3.27 mark with only 20 walks in 85 1/3 innings. He was 10-5 with a 5.22 ERA for the 2011 Lake Elsinore Storm, in a hitter-friendly league. He tied for 5th in the Padres chain in wins. That winter, he was 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA for the Gigantes del Cibao. He did not pitch that summer (presumably due to injury) then was 0-3 with a 4.05 ERA in the winter. He tied Fabio Castro for the Dominican Winter League in strikeouts (42).

With the 2013 San Antonio Missions, he was 4-6 with a 3.86 ERA and only walked 11 in 74 2/3 innings. He threw a shutout inning for the 2013-14 Gigantes. He was 4-3 with a save and a 4.21 ERA for the Fresno Grizzlies in his AAA debut then was 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in two starts that winter for the Gigantes.

In 2015, he pitched six games for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (2-3, 5.20) and was called up to the New York Yankees to replace José Ramírez in the bullpen. He pitched one game, doing mop-up duty by relieving Danny Burawa with a 11-2 deficit in the 6th against the Detroit Tigers. Andrew Romine greeted him with a homer then José Iglesias walked but De Paula got Rajai Davis to fly out. He allowed no more runs, though he walked three and gave up a single, showing surprisingly poor control given his track record. He was then sent back down in favor of Diego Moreno, another rookie.

It is unclear where or if he pitched in the summer of 2016. That winter, he was 2-2 with a 3.57 ERA for Cibao. In 2017, he was 2-4 with a 4.12 ERA for the Ishikawa Million Stars of the Baseball Challenge League. He was 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA for the Gigantes in 2017-2018. In 2018, he pitched for the Sultanes de Monterrey. He was 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in three starts in the spring season and 4-4 with a 3.52 ERA in ten starts in the fall season, with 61 K to 14 BB in 61 1/3 IP. He was second in whiffs, 3 behind Orlando Lara. He also apparently pitched in Panama in 2018. He was 0-3 but with a 2.10 ERA for Cibao in 2018-2019. He did not pitch enough to rank among the qualifiers or he would have tied Josh Lowey for 3rd in the Dominican Winter League.

The left-hander opened 2019 with Monterrey, going 3-1 with a 4.74 ERA and 67 K in 62 2/3 IP. He was traded to the Bravos de León and had a 3-0, 4.55 record for them. He was 3-3 with a 3.26 ERA for the Gigantes that winter, finishing 8th in the Dominican League in ERA (between David Kubiak and Yunesky Maya) and 6th with 38 strikeouts (between Wirfin Obispo and Forrest Snow).

He moved to Taiwan for 2020 and had a great season for the Chinatrust Brothers (16-9, 3.20, 192 K in 174 1/3 IP). He led the 2020 CPBL in wins (one ahead of Henry Sosa), ERA (.18 ahead of Sosa), strikeouts (20 ahead of Sosa) and WHIP (1.16, .18 ahead of Ariel Miranda) to win a pitching Triple Crown. The last pitcher to win the CPBL pitching Triple Crown had been Mike Loree in 2017. In the 2020 Taiwan Series, he allowed one run in eight to beat Tim Melville and the Uni-President Lions in Game 2 but lost Game 6. De Paula won both Best Ten and CPBL MVP, the first foreigner and first pitcher to be named CPBL MVP since Mike Johnson 12 years prior.

Related Sites

• Jose De Paula on mlb.com