The Los Angeles Dodgers will send 19-year-old pitcher Julio Urias down to Triple-A, Fanatics Network reported Saturday. J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group later confirmed the report.
Urias made his major league debut Friday night against the New York Mets, allowing three runs in 2.2 innings.
The Dodgers called up Urias Thursday to make a spot start for injured pitcher Alex Wood, who encountered a triceps issue on May 15 against the St. Louis Cardinals, according to the Associated Press (via Fox Sports).
According to ESPN.com’s Doug Padilla, Urias was the first teenager to start a major league game in 11 years. He was the youngest Dodgers left-hander since Sandy Koufax in 1955, via ESPN Stats & Info:
While he had a good start to his outing against the defending National League champions, he was unable to get through three innings, delivering 81 pitches to 17 batters.
He spoke about his debut after the Mets’ 6-5 walk-off winner, via Padilla: “I’m not going to lie. When I went out there, I started thinking of everything I had to go through to get here. I will never forget anything that happened in this game because this is the happiest day of my life.”
Urias is considered the Dodgers’ top arm in the minors and was ranked the sixth-best prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus in April. In seven prior starts in Triple-A, Urias was 4-1 with a 1.10 ERA with 44 strikeouts in just 41 innings.
While Wood’s injury was never going to keep him out for long, it did give the Dodgers an opportunity to give the young Urias some experience on the major league level, especially against one of the best power-hitting teams out there.
With that limited experience under his belt, Urias will now head back to the minors and hone his craft a bit before being unleashed upon the majors full time.
Stats courtesy of MiLB.com and ESPN.com.
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