The Los Angeles Dodgers have a plethora of options to choose from when constructing their starting rotation for the 2019 season. Among them is former top prospect Julio Urias, who will reprise his role in that capacity after finding success as a reliever during the postseason.
Urias returned to the mound this past July following a lengthy recovery from anterior capsule surgery in 2017. He did not log more than 2.1 innings pitched in any one outing across the Majors and Minors this year.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently confirmed that Urias will again be placed on an innings limit for the 2019 season. “With Julio, there’s going to be an innings limit,” he said.
“And what that number is, we don’t know yet. But we’ve got to figure out how to kind of go about ramping him up for the season. But ultimately we see Julio as a Major League starter, yeah.”
Across three Minor League affiliates in 2018, Urias pitched to a 4.02 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with 26 strikeouts against seven walks in 15.2 innings of work.
The left-hander found his way back to the Dodgers as a September call-up and was initially deployed in low-leverage situations as a way to ease him back into game shape.
Urias was a pivotal part of Los Angeles’ postseason plans, earning spots on both the National League Championship Series and World Series rosters. He came up big in a crucial spot against the Milwaukee Brewers in a win-or-go-home Game 7, retiring 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich, who represented the go-ahead run in the fifth inning.
Between the regular season and postseason for the Dodgers, Urias posted a superb 1.74 ERA and 0.58 WHIP with 12 strikeouts compared to just one walk over 10.1 innings pitched.
