The Los Angeles Dodgers lost another member of their pitching staff on Saturday when Julio Urías was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left hamstring strain.
He joined Walker Buehler, J.P. Feyereisen, Micahel Grove, Daniel Hudson, Dustin May, Jimmy Nelson, Ryan Pepiot, Alex Reyes and Blake Treinen as injured Dodgers pitchers this season, with Noah Syndergaard also just recovering from a blister.
The IL stint is retroactive to Friday, which means Urías could return on June 3 at the earliest, but that leaves a rotation spot open for the time being with few options to fill it.
Luckily for the Dodgers, Urías’ injury is not expected to be a long-term issue, and he could return in the minimum amount of time on the IL, via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
The good news for the Dodgers: Urías’ injury isn’t believed to be as serious, with the team hoping that he will be ready to return once his minimum 15 days on the IL are up.
Urías last pitched in the series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals when he allowed six runs on six hits, including four home runs, in just three innings. All four homers were hit in the same inning, including giving up back-to-back-to-back long balls.
The Dodgers looked into whether the southpaw was tipping pitches, but could not find any evidence to support that.
Overall this season, Urías is 5-4 with a 4.39 ERA, 5.32 FIP and 1.16 WHIP in 10 starts.
The 14 home runs Urías has allowed is tied with Kansas City Royals’ Jordan Lyles for most in the Majors so far this year. However, his home run/fly ball rate was at an unsustainable 20.3%, which means Urías was due to see some better results.
Dodgers prospects stepping into starting rotation
With May and Urías both landing on the IL this week, Gavin Stone is filling one of the two open rotation spots. Meanwhile, Bobby Miller is getting an opportunity to start for Urías against the Atlanta Braves.
While Stone is expected to remain the Dodgers rotation beyond this week, it’s unclear how many opportunities Miller will receive beyond his outing on Tuesday.
Among other arms with Triple-A Oklahoma City, Robbie Erlin figured to be another candidate to make a spot start. With Double-A Tulsa are Dodgers prospects Landon Knack, Emmet Sheehan and Nick Nastrini.
Of that group, Knack seems like he would be the favorite as the most MLB-ready arm thanks to his control, but all three would need to be added to the 40-man roster.
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