Dodgers’ youth movement will continue in earnest

2:09 PM ET

Nearly two months into the 2016 season, the break-even Los Angeles Dodgers have elicited shrugs with their 25-23 record, but they’ve also inspired excitement over the dawn of a new era.

Clayton Kershaw has been worth the price of admission every fifth day, and now it looks like he will be getting more help.

When top prospect Julio Urias makes his major league debut Friday against the Mets, it will be just one more in a string of impressive young players who are starting to make the Dodgers’ future look bright.

Urias has not only posted a 4-1 record with a 1.10 ERA at Triple-A Oklahoma City, he will also head to New York having thrown 27 consecutive scoreless innings in the Pacific Coast League.

How long he stays with the Dodgers remains to be seen. Urias has never pitched more than 87 2/3 innings in a season while in the minor leagues, where he began playing in 2013. He has already logged 41 innings at Triple-A this season.

Getting Urias to 150 innings this season could be pushing it. So what will the club do if the young lefty shows that he is ready for full-time life in the big leagues?

There has already been some conjecture about turning Urias into a reliever later in the season. He could be the answer to some of the bullpen’s consistency issues, and that move might help ease him into a higher innings count for next season.

Asked earlier this month about how Urias’ innings will be kept in check and whether he might be turned into a reliever, Dodgers director of player development Gabe Kapler said that no firm decision has yet been made.

“Anything is possible,” Kapler said. “There are so many variables and, …

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