Friday marked Major League Baseball’s deadline for arbitration-eligible players and teams to agree to contracts for the 2021 season, and the Los Angeles Dodgers had a number of players who qualified.
The Dodgers were able to get some of their players signed early, recently agreeing to contracts with relievers Corey Knebel and Dylan Floro. They jumpstart began last month with Scott Alexander prior to the deadline to tender contracts.
A handful of key players remained unsigned going into Friday’s 10 a.m. PT deadline, with Austin Barnes, Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler, Corey Seager and Julio Urias among them.
Bellinger was the first to reportedly reach an agreement on Friday afternoon, receiving a nice raise in his second year of arbitration eligibility. Seager also reportedly avoided arbitration in his final year before reaching free agency, settling at $13.25 million after his outstanding 2020 season.
According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, another one of the Dodgers’ postseason heroes, Urias, was next to agree to a contract for the 2021 season:
Julio Urias, Dodgers agree: $3.6M
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 15, 2021
The 24-year-old is coming off the best season of his young career, going 3-0 with a 3.27 ERA, 3.72 FIP and 1.15 WHIP in 11 appearances (10 starts). Urias then had one of the greatest postseason runs for a pitcher in franchise history, as he went 4-0 with one save and a 1.13 ERA in 23 innings across six appearances (two starts).
Urias tossed three perfect innings to close out the Atlanta Braves in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, and then did the same thing in Game 6 of the World Series, completing 2.1 perfect innings to record to final out against the Tampa Bay Rays to win it all.
After signing with the Dodgers out of Mexico as a 16-year-old, Urias was immediately touted as a top prospect in the organization. While injuries have hampered him along the way, he finally reached that potential in 2020.
This winter was Urias’ first year of arbitration eligibility, so he will be under club control before reaching free agency in 2024.
Urias ranked on list of breakout players by MLB Network
Dodgers fans weren’t the only ones who noticed how dominant Urias was in 2020, as he was recently ranked MLB Network’s list of breakout players list.
With the ability to both start and relieve, Urias should be a fixture on the Dodgers’ pitching staff for years to come.
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