Going into the 2016 season the Los Angeles Dodgers had two of the best prospects in baseball in shortstop Corey Seager and left-handed pitcher Julio Urias. Seager began the year with the club, while injuries opened the door for Urias to make his Major League debut in May.
Seager, who was one of the Dodgers named to the National League All-Star team, is considered by many the favorite to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award. After a four-hit performance in Monday’s rout of the Cincinnati Reds, he’s batting .321/.375/.540.
Whereas Seager’s season has been constant, Urias has been through ups and downs and utilized in multiple roles. He was back in the rotation Sunday, making a spot start to provide others in the rotation with an extra day of rest.
Urias turned in arguably the best outing of his young career, throwing six shutout innings with six strikeouts. He was praised after the game by Seager, via Bill Plunkett of the OC Register:
“Playing with him, I know he can handle it. Obviously they have their restrictions for reasons that we don’t really know about. It’s kind of hard because he throws so well and then they pull him out, sit him, skip starts. You want that on the mound when you can. You want to let him go as long as you can because it helps you win games for sure.”
In 13 games (11 starts) with the Dodgers, Urias is 4-2 with a 3.95 ERA, 3.32 FIP and 1.53 WHIP. Including time with Triple-A Oklahoma City, the 20-year-old has now thrown a career-high 102 innings.
While Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently said that Urias will be used as a long reliever in order to limit his innings, the club doesn’t appear to have abandoned the option of using Urias as a starter.
