Dodgers @ Padres September 28, 2016: De León vs. Perdomo

Dodgers
Padres
7:10 PM PST
San Diego
2B
Utley
CF
Margot
3B
Kendrick
1B
Myers
SS
Seager
3B
Solarte
1B
 González
LF
Dickerson
C
Grandal
RF
Renfroe
RF
Reddick
2B
Schimpf
LF
Toles C  Hedges
CF
Pederson
SS
Amarista
P
De León (R)
P
Perdomo (R)

When Jose De Leon takes the mound today, it’ll be the 68th start by a Dodgers rookie this year. Both Julio Urías and Kenta Maeda are slated to start this week, meaning that 70 of the Dodgers’ 162 games this season (43.2%) will have been started by a rookie pitcher.

De León has made three starts for the Dodgers this September, with each one being progressively worse than the one before it (an unfortunate trend, albeit not one worth worrying about). This is his second time facing San Diego. De León made his major league debut against the Padres on September 4, when he allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings while striking out nine en route to a Dodgers victory. De León has allowed a total of 12 runs (nine earned) in 14.2 IP. Four of the fifteen hits he’s surrendered have been home runs.

This could very well be a postseason audition for De León, who has a shot at the NLDS roster, although odds of both him and Urías making the cut are “slim,” per Doug Padilla.

The Padres have a rookie on the mound as well. Luis Perdomo began the year in the bullpen for San Diego. He made his major league debut on Opening Day against the Dodgers, completing just one inning and allowing six runs on six hits and two walks. He’s since made 19 starts, including two against the Dodgers (both of which the Padres lost). Perdomo has a 5.59 ERA (4.62 FIP) and 1.59 WHIP in 141.2 innings pitched. His K rate of 16.1% is seventh-worst in baseball amongst pitchers with minimum 140 IP.

The Nationals won yesterday, putting them two games up on the Dodgers for home-field advantage in the NLDS. At time of posting, they are trailing the Diamondbacks by three runs with heading to the sixth inning. As Dustin argued this morning, the Dodgers should be concerned with staying healthy in the final week of the season more so than with home field advantage. Nonetheless, we’ll continue to keep an eye on how the Nats do, if only for scheduling purposes.

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In other news, the Bud Norris era in Los Angeles is officially over:

And, see you in 2017, Hyun-Jin Ryu … maybe:

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About Sarah Wexler

Sarah Wexler is a native Angeleno and longtime Dodger fan. She began blogging about baseball in 2012 on her Tumblr, New Grass On The Field, where she covered an array of topics but especially enjoyed exploring baseball history. She is now a reporter/producer for MLB.com. She earned her master's degree in Sports Management from Cal State Long Beach. She graduated from New York University in 2014 with a bachelor's in History and a minor in American Studies. She's an avid Springsteen fan, which is a big boost to her baseball writer cred.