There is a buzz beginning to circulate among baseball fans who diligently follow the Dodgers minor league teams. No, it’s not the buzz about ‘The Untouchable Three’ (Joc Pederson, Corey Seager or Julio Urias), it’s a buzz about a 22-year-old right-hander named Jose De Leon who the Dodgers selected in the 24th round of the 2013 First Year Player Draft out of Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

So how is it that a 24th round draft pick is creating a buzz, you ask? How about a 2014 record of 7-0, a 2.40 ERA and (get this) 107 strikeouts in 51.1 innings pitched between Rookie League Ogden and Low Single-A Great Lakes for a Kershaw-like strikeouts per nine innings (SO9) ratio of 13.5. That’ll create a buzz.

Although De Leon struggled a bit in his first professional season with the Arizona Rookie League Dodgers (2-3) and the short-season Ogden Raptors (1-2) for a combined 3-5 record and 6.96 ERA, he has been absolutely brilliant this season with the Raptors (5-0) and the Great Lakes Loons (2-0). But what really put De Leon on everybody’s radar was the Loons 5-1 win over the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres) on August 19 in which he struck out 14 batters to set a new Loons record. Whose record did De Leon beat? You guessed it – Clayton Kershaw’s previous record of 12 strikeouts in a game.

Splitting time between Ogden and Great Lakes this season, Jose De Leon has struck out 107 while walking only 20 in 51.1 innings of work. (Photo credit – Noall Knighton)

The Isabela, Puerto Rico native followed up his record-setting performance with nine more strikeouts on August 24 in the Loons 4-2 win over the Dayton Dragons (Reds).

Granted, it’s way too early to draw comparisons between De Leon and Kershaw and extremely unfair to put those type of expectations on him, especially at the Low Single-A level, but Dodger fans may want to remember the name Jose De Leon and may want to keep a close eye on him over the next couple of seasons – because you just never know when the next Clayton Kershaw will come along.

By the way, De Leon wears uniform number 22 with the Loons – just saying.