Julio Urias was once the most promising pitching prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system, flying through the Minor League ranks and making his MLB debut at just 19 years of age.
Urias’ development was slowed a little bit in July 2017 when he was forced to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery. The operation kept him out of game action for over one year, and even had Urias questioning whether or not he’d return.
After a lengthy rehab process and time in the Minors to work some rust off, Urias made his return to the big leagues this past weekend. He tossed a perfect inning on 12 pitches to close out Saturday’s victory against the St. Louis Cardinals, punctuating it with a strikeout.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was pleased with what they saw from Urias and feels comfortable deploying him in any scenario, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I was encouraged,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I loved the fastball command and the delivery looked really good. The velocity was fine. It was good. … really encouraging.”
“Now that we’ve seen it, he got that outing out of the way, I feel better about him going forward,” Roberts said. “He’s strong and healthy. I feel good about putting him in there, essentially in any spot. I really do.”
As it currently stands, no one in the Dodgers bullpen has a set role outside of closer Kenley Jansen. Roberts has plenty of high-leverage options though, and Urias could be another if he continues to pitch the way he did on Saturday whenever he gets more opportunities.
