40-man breakdown: Julio Urías

3 min readMay 22, 2020

by Cary Osborne

(Editor’s Note: Dodger Insider analyzes a different member of the Dodgers’ 40-man roster every weekday. The series continues alphabetically with Julio Urías.)

Position: LHP
Previous Years with Dodgers: Four
Age: 23
Contract: Signed through 2020

2019 Summary: Urías set career highs nearly across the board in 2019 — including games (37), innings pitched (79 2/3), ERA (2.49), WHIP (1.08), strikeouts (85) and strikeouts per nine innings (3.15). The young left-hander from Mexico began the season in the Dodgers’ starting rotation with Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill on the injured list, but from late April on he was primarily a reliever — and an elite one at that. In 29 appearances (49 1/3 innings) out of the bullpen, he had a 2.01 ERA — ninth-best in the Majors among relievers who logged at least 45 innings. Overall, he limited right-handers to a .203/.268/.297/.565 slash line. He held left-handers to a .198/.299/.376/.675 slash line

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Best ’19 Moment: Urías was on point on April 18 in his final start before leaving the starting rotation, shutting down a potent Brewers offense in Milwaukee. He allowed no hits heading into the fifth inning, finally surrendering a two-out single to Orlando Arcia in the fifth. In six innings, Urías allowed one hit, two walks, no runs and struck out nine.

Standout Stat: Opponents hit .122 with an expected weighted on-base average (xwOBA) of .160. League average batting average vs. all pitches in 2019 was .252 and xwOBA average was .319.

Statcast Stat: Urías led the Majors in lowest average exit velocity at 83.2 mph.

Interesting Fact: Among pitchers born in Mexico with at least 150 innings pitched, Urías ranks fourth in career ERA at 3.18.

Where He Stands: Urías was slated to be in the Dodgers’ starting rotation to open the 2020 season. In 28 career starts, he has a 3.66 ERA/1.36 WHIP. Last season, in eight starts he had a 3.26 ERA/1.12 WHIP. But there are some milestones he is yet to or has rarely hit as a starter. He has never gone beyond 6 1/3 innings in a start and has reached 100 pitches once. But there’s a lot of potential there. Particularly impressive is the left-hander’s ability to limit hard contact. Last season saw a big leap in fastball and slider quality. He added 2 mph to his fastball last year, with an average velocity of 95.1. Urías, who was dominating pro hitters as a 16-year-old, might be poised for a breakout season.