Julio Urias brings excitement to Dodgers, but it will likely be short-lived

11:57 AM ET

Curtis Granderson may be the first hitter that Julio Urias faces in the big leagues Friday night, and sometime before that moment, Granderson will likely read a scouting report that details all that is good about the left-hander’s moneymaker — a vicious slider.

Urias has long been pegged as a top prospect, a great young pitcher with a great arm. But as spring training began, the Dodgers felt that Urias’ primary breaking ball was good but had room for improvement; it was too slurvy, the player development folks believed, and so Urias worked with a different grip, more of a true slider.

Clayton Kershaw once had a similar adjustment early in his career, tinkering with a slider, so that he could augment his fastball and curveball. In a bullpen session in Wrigley Field, he tried the slider for the first time, and as catcher A.J. Ellis later recalled, everything about that first pitch was perfect, from the spin to the placement.

How was that, Kershaw asked in some many words. Just keep doing that, he was told, and now the slider is a crucial weapon for Kershaw, a high-velocity breaking ball that hitters swing over as they anticipate his fastball.

This is what happened with Urias: Right away, he took to the slider, and the slider started working for him, a perfect complement to his fastball, and maybe tonight, he’ll throw it to the left-handed hitting Granderson, amid all the hope that he carries with him.

But that hope should be tempered, because Urias’ impact for the …

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