Dodgers Recall Daniel Coulombe, Who Is A Living Human Being

Buried at the bottom of a J.P.Hoornstra piece on Joc Pederson the other day was this note:

Mattingly said that he and the front office have discussed adding one more player already in the organization to the active roster over the final two weeks.

Since the Dodgers already had 36 active players, and Stephen Fife, Jarret Martin and Matt Magill were all unlikely for various reasons, it seemed like it’d be one of two relievers: Onelki Garcia, who is on the 60-day DL but has been pitching in the playoffs for Chattanooga; or Jose Dominguez, the final member of the 40-man, who has also been with the Lookouts.

Instead, there’s this: 24-year-old lefty Daniel Coulombe has been called up. Fife has been moved to the 60-day DL to make room.

Wait, who?

Coulombe was a 25th-round pick out of Texas Tech in 2012, and a few days ago, he made Dustin’s all-prospect team:

Relief pitcher 2: Daniel Coulombe, 24, High-A Rancho Cucamonga/Double-A Chattanooga
6 SV, 2.89 ERA, 3.09 FIP (RC)/ 2.57 FIP (CHA), 1.19 WHIP, 3.7 BB/9, 12.7 K/9
– Coulmbe is a lefty who doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but he finds ways to strike hitters out. He performed well in Rancho and earned a promotion to Chattanooga, where he pitched equally well. I could see him being the next lefty reliever to come up through the system and doing well. J.P. Howell or Paco Rodriguez‘s jobs aren’t in danger, but Coulombe could be an up-and-down guy before finally getting established in the ‘pen.

Immediately, Dustin already knows more about him than I do. I hesitate to offer a two-year-old scouting report, but I’m grasping for facts here, so here’s Jason Parks at BP in October of 2012:

Short lefty reliever; high three-quarter slot; fastball was 89-91 with effort; best curveball I saw in Arizona; 77-80 with tons of depth; easy 6 pitch; changeup had some fade at 83; arm was very quick; decent control; impressive command of curveball, both in and out of zone; pitch overmatched the level of hitter he was facing.

So there’s that. Fun, I guess?

Really, this is interesting less because of the arrival of Coulombe — unless you are Coulombe, in which case, hi — and more because of what it says. We know the Dodgers have wanted to find a second lefty alongside Howell, but most thought that Rodriguez or Garcia would be that guy. Maybe they still will be, but now they’ve dipped into Double-A to find a relatively unknown prospect, and dipped into two years ago to find Scott Elbert. I can’t imagine this says anything good about Rodriguez, can it?

Coulombe last pitched on Friday, so he should be available when he arrives. Here’s a helpful guide on how to say his name:

Everyone's going to want to know how to say it…COO-Lohm. Congratulations to Dan Coulombe, who's just been added to the Dodgers' roster!

— Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (@RCQuakes) September 16, 2014