The Los Angeles Dodgers top young pitcher, Julio Urias, suffered an unfortunate injury while pitching in the Minor Leagues in 2017, requiring him to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery.
Given that he is still just 21-years-old and has a bright future ahead of him, the Dodgers are not going to rush him back in 2018.
As recently as the beginning of May, it was reported that Urias still had not thrown off a mound, targetting a return-date around July.
The original hope was that Urias would step on the mound at the end of Spring Training, although he is obviously behind schedule. Urias is currently with the team for their series in Monterrey Mexico, his native country, and he revealed that he is getting close to throwing off a mound, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Urias said he hopes to throw off a mound “in the near future.”
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) May 4, 2018
Given that the original target return date for Urias was July when the plan was for him to start throwing bullpens in March, that July return date seems a little ambitious.
Additionally, while the organization views Urias as a starter longterm, it is possible that they choose to utilize him as a reliever when he is able to come back this season to ease him back into things.
If the Dodgers can get Urias back around September and he is pitching at a high level, that could be another weapon for manager Dave Roberts to utilize out of his bullpen down the stretch of a potential pennant race.
