The Los Angeles Dodgers stuck with Julio Urias as he endured the growing pains that are to be expected of a young pitcher getting his first experience in the Majors. In some sense their continuing to give Urias opportunities was due to a lack of options.
But the 19-year-old left-hander also showed flashes of the talent that has him rated as the Dodgers’ No. 1 pitching prospect, and one of the top pitchers throughout the Minors. On Friday, the Mexico native turned in the best performance of his young career.
Urias fired five scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, walking just one batter and setting a career high with eight strikeouts. He’s pitched well enough over his past two starts that he’s… Unlikely to be part of the rotation beyond Wednesday.
“We understand this situation with the 19-year-old kid. Winning is of high importance at this level but as an organization, we’re hypersensitive of his usage,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after his club’s walk-off victory.
“He threw the ball well and we wanted him to feel good about his outing, which I think he did.” Uris was pinch-hit for with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the fifth. Working on a limit of 90-100 pitches, he threw 85 pitches.
Heading into Friday’s game, Roberts indicated Urias was expected to make two starts and a decision would then be made to curtail his workload. The rookie manager still wasn’t certain how that will unfold. “I can’t sit here right now and tell you what his fate is going to be for the next month,” Roberts said.
“With all of our pitchers and Julio specifically, we’re trying to talk through some things and map things out for him.” Urias has thrown a combined 63 innings this season; 22 with the Dodgers, and 41 with Triple-A Oklahoma City.
His career high is 87.2 innings, set during the 2014 season with High-A Rancho Cucamonga at the tender age of 17. Working on an innings limit is certainly nothing new to Urias, nor is it something he’s taken issue with.
“I continue the same as I was before,” Urias said through an interpreter. “They make the decisions and I have to continue to do things whatever way they want me to.”
