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No. 2 MLB prospect Urias debuts for LA tonight
- Updated: May 27, 2016
NEW YORK — Fans and media aren’t the only ones amped up over the promotion of Dodgers teenage pitching sensation Julio Urias to the Major Leagues, which the club announced on Thursday.
“It’s a great organizational moment,” Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, said of the decision to start the 19-year-old left-hander Friday night at Citi Field against the Mets and Jacob deGrom.
“The guys that worked with him throughout the Minor Leagues couldn’t be happier. He’s a Dodger sign, he was developed in the system and he’ll debut in a Dodgers uniform. It’s a real special thing for a lot of departments and that makes it a fun thing for everybody.”
Urias — the top left-handed pitching prospect in the game and No. 2 overall prospect, according to MLBPipeline.com — has been dominating this season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he is 4-1 with a 1.10 ERA, 44 strikeouts and eight walks in 41 innings with a 0.78 WHIP. He is currently riding a 27-inning scoreless streak.
Urias (pronounced: ooh-REE-ahs) will start in place of Alex Wood, who irritated a left triceps muscle swinging a bat two starts back and now is scheduled to start Monday in Chicago. Friedman said the decision to replace Wood with Urias was made Wednesday night.
• Callis: What to expect from Urias in the big leagues
As the most anticipated arrival of a Dodgers pitcher since Clayton Kershaw in 2008, Urias will be the youngest starting pitcher in the Majors since Seattle’s Felix Hernandez in 2005.
Friedman said that after Friday night’s start, the club would assess whether it would be a one-time spot start or whether Urias could work his way into the rotation or bullpen. Urias has never pitched more than 87 2/3 innings in a season and that is the biggest hurdle for management to clear in determining just how much to ask of him.
“He’s extremely talented, and his talent is a little ahead of his development,” Friedman said. “It’s not often a guy is this ready to perform well before he’s built up to handle a Major League starter workload. It will require us to be creative, not just this year but at least next year as well.
“We haven’t made a long-term determination to this point. …
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