After dominating Triple A hitters in the Pacific Coast League with a 1.10 ERA, .780 WHIP and 9.7 K/9 rate, the Dodgers have announced that top prospect Julio Urias will be making his MLB debut against Jacob deGrom and the Mets tonight at Citi Field.
But Urias isn’t your typical blue chip prospect.
In 2012, the Dodgers brass headed to Mexico to scout a 21 year old Cuban phenom named Yasiel Puig and a catcher Julian Leon. While they were quick to sign the two can’t miss prospects, a 15-year old lefty with a funky delivery and a low nineties fastball caught their eye while he was observed dominating much older hitters.
At the suggestion of scouting director and former Mets exec Logan White, the Dodgers signed Julio Urias for $450,000 five days after his 16th birthday. Little did they know that the lanky lefty from Sinaloa would blossom into the number two pitching prospect in all of baseball.
Now at 19 years and 288 days old, Urias will be the youngest Dodger to take the mound since another Mexican phenom – Fernando Valenzuela – did against the Braves 36 years ago.
Dominating the minor leagues is nothing new to the young southpaw. As a 16-year old in Class-A, Urias was carving up hitters in the Midwest League. In his first season as a pro, he owned the opposition with a .227 batting average against and an eye popping 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings. His Class-A numbers were just a harbinger of future success, as he finished his minor league career with an impressive 10.5 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, and 2.63 ERA over just 260 minor league innings.
Much of Urias’ early success can be attributed to his electric repertoire. He features a plus fastball that touches 97 miles per hour, a knee-buckling 11-5 curve, and a power changeup that he varies the speed and break of to baffle hitters. Urias commands all three pitches exceptionally well as evidenced by his minuscule 1.8 BB/9 rate this year. Here’s a recent video of a nine strikeout performance.
[iframe]<iframe src=’https://www.milb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=35361681&width=500&height=284&property=milb’ width=’500′ height=’284′ frameborder=’0′>Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe>[/iframe]
While predicting the performances of young pitchers is no exact science, Urias definitely looks like the real deal. The Mets – and soon the rest of the National League – are going to have their hands full in the very near future.
