Jose De Leon Delivers in Emotional Major League Debut

He'll remember this forever.

Jose De Leon stood on the dirt in front of the Dodgers' dugout hours before he was set to make his Major League debut against the San Diego Padres on Sunday. To his left, a familiar face, 20-year-old Julio Urias, his best friend and teammate.

The top two pitching prospects in the Dodgers organization have essentially grown up together over the past three years. The Puerto Rican right-hander and the Mexican left-hander have always found a connection in their Latino lineage, but it was their rise through the minor leagues together that brought forth a bond of friendship that will withstand the test of time.

So it was only fitting that on Sunday, Urias was by his friend's side as he was about to embark on his first venture into the treacherous terrain known as the "Big Leagues."

Comfort and familiarity were something that the front office knew a young pitcher would need when combating butterflies and nerves in front of 50,000 fans at Dodger Stadium.

So Dodgers manager Dave Roberts started Austin Barnes at catcher the batterymate that was by De Leon's side during his dominant season in Triple-A Oklahoma City this year.

"That was huge," said De Leon. "I know with any guy they put up out there, they're going to take great care of me. With Barnes, I've been throwing to him the whole year, so he knows me better than anybody. I knew the Dodgers crowds are probably the biggest in Major League Baseball. I just tried to focus on the catcher. After I threw the first strike, everything was good."

He inserted mercurial star Yasiel Puig, who became fast friends with De Leon over the span of a month that he spent in the minor leagues.

“Having guys like Puig boosts the team chemistry.” He also added that his relationship with Puig and Urias made him “feel at home.”

For a minor leaguer, "home" can have many different meanings. The austere lifestyle means spending nine months of the year traveling on cramped buses, sleeping in cheap motels, on air mattresses, and having no real place to hang your hat at night.

De Leon's definition of "home" meant surrounded by his baseball brothers, but the Dodgers wanted to make sure Chavez Ravine had that friendly feel so they arranged to have over 19 friends and family attend the game in what hopefully would be the birth of a long and prosperous big league career.

De Leon was excited to see everyone after months on the road in the minor leagues, but he stayed disciplined and stuck to his regular pregame routine until suddenly he looked up and caught the eyes of his brother, Juan, while warming up in the bullpen. That's when the floodgates opened.

"I was pretty calm until I saw my brother," De Leon said. "He went up to the rail and I just saw him. Usually when I pitch, I stick with my routine, but when I saw him I stopped my warmup and went up to him, hugged him, told him, 'I did it.' That was pretty special, I got emotional there. He didn't say much, but I know he almost cried.”

Many of De Leon's immediate family and closest friends made the trip from Puerto Rico to bare witness to their kin on one of the biggest days in his adult life. One of De Leon's cousins drove all the way from Tacoma, Washington to partake in the coming out party of his blood relative, and even a few friends from college drove out from Southern University in Louisiana to watch the Dodgers' rising star.

However, there was one person who couldn’t be there for De Leon's historic day. His late grandfather, whom he affectionately called "Abu," would not be there in person, but would always be there in spirit.  In his pregame tradition, De Leon, etched the nickname of his grandpa in the dirt on the mound before throwing out his first pitch.

"You're going to make me cry here," an emotional De Leon said after his start. "I always write my Grandapa's name 'Abu," and then I write 'MPM' for 'Mommy, Papi and Maje,"

"Maje," is De Leon's nickname for his brother, and his father, Jose, and mother, Ady, were also in attendance to watch their son's debut. Much as you would expect, they nervously hinged on every pitch, celebrating each strikeout and struggling through the runs allowed.

"I saw on the replay for my first strikeout, my dad just jumped all over the place. It was my first time actually seeing them in the stadium since I signed in 2013 and now I know what they go through when they see me on the TV when they're in Puerto Rico." 

His parents waited for their son for hours after the game and were brought to tears when De Leon presented them with a memento none of them will ever forget: the game ball and lineup card from his first career win in the Major Leagues.

De Leon may have earned his way into the Dodgers injury-riddled starting rotation down the stretch with his performance. The rookie right-hander allowed four runs on six hits with nine strikeouts and zero walks in six innings as the Dodgers defeated the Padres, 7-4, giving De Leon his first MLB victory.

"The line does not speak to how well Jose pitched today," manager Dave Roberts said. "For a young kid to make his debut in this environment says a lot about his composure."

De Leon's nine punchouts were the second most in Los Angeles Dodgers history for a rookie in their debut, behind Pedro Astacio and Kaz Ishii with 10.

Despite adding his name to the record books, De Leon was humble when asked how he felt about his start and if he felt like he'd finally made it:

"Not yet, but it was a pretty good start."

Tony Capobianco of the Enid News & Eagle contributed to this story.