Julio Urías took over as the ace of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2022 season, but that didn’t stop him from working to improve.
Urías was handed the ball on Opening Day against the Arizona Diamondbacks and pitched a strong six innings while allowing two runs on four hits with six strikeouts.
While a quality performance from the southpaw could have been expected, he did something unexpected by debuting a new cutter for the first time in a game.
“Yeah, it’s a pitch I’ve been working on,” Urías said through an interpreter. “I used it and it worked well.”
Urías threw the cutter nine times, according to Statcast data, and he recorded two swinging strikes, four foul balls, two balls in play, and one called ball. The pitch topped out at 86.7 mph with a minimum velocity of 85 mph.
Urías first began trying out the cutter during Spring Training and used it for 11.4% of his pitches on Opening Day. He can now continue to mix it into his arsenal, which includes a fastball (44.3% usage rate), slurve (30.4%), changeup (12.7%) and sinker (1.3%).
Last season, Urías relied on just three pitches — a fastball (49.2%), slurve (33.3%) and changeup (17.5%) — so adding a fourth could help him improve even more.
The last time he threw more than three pitches was during the 2020 season when he mixed in a slider and curveball as well.
“He used to throw a slider a few years ago,” Will Smith noted. “This spring it (the cutter) was an idea. It worked out a little bit, so we’ll see if we keep it going.”
Urías is in the midst of an important season as he is eligible to become a free agent for the first time in his career following the conclusion of the World Series.
He should command a significant contract as he will be just 27-years-old and can pitch at the top of any rotation, and a strong season in 2023 could push that number even higher.
Julio Urías made adjustments Opening Day
Urías took the mound to much fanfare on an unusually chilly March night at Dodger Stadium and threw a first-pitch 94 mph fastball for strike. He struck out Kyle Lewis to open the game, but soon ran into trouble and allowed a run in each of the first two innings.
However, that was followed by four shutout innings en route to a successful Opening Day start.
“I made a couple adjustments and felt like myself on the mound a little bit more after those first two innings,” Urías said. “I think I was cutting the fastball too much. Made those adjustments and I was able to be more successful.”
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