Dee Gordon, the top position player prospect, is called up

Reporting from Philadelphia

Dee Gordon might have benefited from playing out the remainder of the triple-A season and waiting until September for his first major league call-up, General Manager Ned Colletti conceded.

But the Dodgers couldn’t wait, not with Rafael Furcal on the disabled list.

So, the Dodgers called up their top position player prospect Monday, the same day they activated infielder Juan Uribe, outfielder Marcus Thames and reliever Blake Hawksworth.

The Dodgers cleared room on their active roster by sending John Ely and Ivan De Jesus Jr. to triple-A Albuquerque and designating Juan Castro and Jay Gibbons for assignment.

Gordon, the son of former major league reliever Tom “Flash” Gordon, will be the Dodgers’ everyday shortstop while Furcal is out. He was batting .315 in 50 games for triple-A Albuquerque.

“He’s got tools right now that play to the big league level,” Colletti said. “Losing Raffy for another extended period of time — two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, whatever it turns out to be — we needed to add somebody who could play a lot of shortstop.”

Manager Don Mattingly said he thought the 37-year-old Jamey Carroll might wear down if he played every day. Carroll disagreed.

“Just because I’m 37 doesn’t mean I’m going to get tired,” said Carroll, who was three for four Monday to raise his average to .308.

Gordon, a rail-thin 23-year-old, was visibly excited when he arrived at the Dodgers’ clubhouse.

Because his father pitched for the Phillies, he spent a lot of time in his youth at Citizens Bank Park. First base coach Davey Lopes, a former Phillies coach, said he recalled hitting grounders to Gordon.

“I know this place we’re at right now like the back of my hand,” Gordon said.

With his father watching from behind the Dodgers’ dugout, the fleet-footed Gordon made his major league debut Monday night as a pinch-runner. He went from first to third on a single by James Loney — “I don’t know if he touches the ground,” Mattingly said — and scored when Andre Ethier grounded into a force play.

Dodgers draft Reed

Logan White has drafted Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp and Chad Billingsley. Last year he drafted and signed two-sport star Zach Lee, who was previously believed to be unsignable.

But White evidently thought it necessary to address concerns that Dodgers owner Frank McCourt’s financial problems might have influenced his decision to draft Stanford closer Chris Reed with the 16th overall pick.

“This is a legitimate pick for us,” White said, without being prompted.

White acknowledged he is working under a budget that was set in September or October, but that this was nothing out of the ordinary. An agent advising another top prospect said White told him the Dodgers wouldn’t offer any signing bonuses that exceeded the recommendations of the commissioner’s office.

Hayden Simpson, the No. 16 pick last year, signed with the Chicago Cubs for $1.06 million.

Reed, who graduated from Cleveland High in Reseda, is a late-blooming left-hander whom White intends to convert into a starter. Reed posted a 7.04 earned-run average in 25 games in his first two years at Stanford. He saved nine games this year, striking out 48 batters in 49 2/3 innings while posting a 2.54 ERA.

White said Reed has a 92- to 95-mph fastball, a hard slider and a good changeup.

Reed is advised by super-agent Scott Boras, which White said he didn’t think would be an issue.

The last time the Dodgers drafted a Boras advisee was in 2005, when they took Luke Hochevar in the first round. They failed to sign him.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com