The Dodgers Have Called Up 19-Year-Old Pitching Prospect Julio Urias
https://twitter.com/Dodgers/status/735841246812344321
The Dodgers have announced that their top pitching prospect, 19-year-old Julio Urias, will make his major league debut on Friday against Jacob deGrom and the Mets.
At 19 years and 289 days, Urias will become youngest Dodgers left-handed pitcher to make his major league debut since Sandy Koufax did so on June 24, 1955. However, Koufax debuted as a reliever, whereas Urias is getting the ball as a starter. But that’s just in Dodgers history. On Friday night, Urias will become the youngest pitcher to make their major league debut as a starting pitcher since Felix Hernandez made his debut on August 4, 2005 as a 19-year-old. He’ll also become the youngest active player in the MLB.
All the hype surrounding Urias isn’t just because of his age, though. He is also one of the most highly ranked prospects in all of baseball, and not just for pitchers, either. Coming into 2016, Baseball America ranked him at No. 4, Baseball Prospectus ranked him at No. 6, Keith Law ranked him at No. 5, and MLB.com ranked him at No. 2. That’s an average ranking of being about the No. 4 prospect in all of baseball.
Urias earned the promotion after Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood was scratched from Friday’s start due to tricep soreness, but really, he earned the start because he’s dominating the Triple-A competition. Urias has appeared in 8 games this season, seven of which were starts, and has a 4-1 record to go along with a 1.10 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 41 innings. Oh, and he also has an active 27-inning scoreless streak. No big deal. Urias has the lowest ERA in the Pacific Coast League, and also owns the best WHIP in the league, too (0.78).
By the way, if you’re interested in checking out Urias’ major league debut, MLB Network has the Dodgers/Mets game, and it’s also MLB.TV’s free game of the day.