Julio Urías began the 2023 season with plenty at stake as he was due to become a free agent during the winter, but his outlook and future in Major League Baseball took a dramatic turn upon getting arrested last September amid suspected domestic violence.
Well before Urías started to face legal trouble, he dealt with inconsistency and a left hamstring strain. He opened the season with diminished fastball velocity but three consecutive starts of six innings pitched and two runs or fewer allowed in each outing.
However, that stretch was followed by Urías losing his next three starts to close out the month of April. It was the first time in his career the 26-year-old dropped three games in a row.
He rebounded with a dominant effort against the Philadelphia Phillies and pitched well when facing the San Diego Padres in consecutive outings. But that three-start stretch gave way to a rough outing in which the Dodgers initially suspected Urías may have tipped pitches en route to surrendering four home runs to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Dodgers wound up putting Urías on the 15-day injured list because of a left hamstring strain two days after the disastrous outing. The injury was not believed to be serious, but he suffered multiple setbacks during the rehab process and didn’t return until the beginning of July.
Urías’ first month back produced a mixed bag of results but the left-hander began to find his footing in August. Some of that momentum came to an end in Urías’ start against the Boston Red Sox on August 26 as the outing got away from him after dominant early innings, and he labored in a matchup with the Atlanta Braves on September 1.
That wound up being Urías’ final start of the season, as he finished 11-8 with a 4.60 ERA and 1.16 WHIP, and remains a Dodgers free agent.
Julio Urías 2023 highlight
Although Urías had a scoreless innings streak snapped by the Colorado Rockies on August 13, he turned in seven strong innings at Coors Field and matched a career high with 12 strikeouts.
Included in that stretch was striking out seven batters in a row. Urías originally set his career high of 12 strikeouts against the Chicago Cubs on June 26, 2021.
2024 outlook
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced they will not file felony charges against Urías following his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence.
However, he still faces the potential of misdemeanor charges from the L.A. City Attorney’s office, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred may impose a suspension regardless of how Urías’ legal proceedings unfold moving forward.
Urías is the first player who faces possible disciplinary action for a second time under MLB’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy that was implemented in August 2015.
He served a 20-game suspension in 2019 before eventually returning to the Dodgers later that season.
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