Los Angeles Dodgers: Julio Urias sent back to the minors

Julio Urias has had some outstanding games, and some blunders, during his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

At the beginning of the season Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias was considered the top prospect in the organization.  At 20 years old the Mexican left-handed pitcher has been compared to Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela, those comparisons and that kind of pressure must be getting to him.

Urias was optioned to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers after another terrible start on Saturday night where he gave up seven runs six earned in just two and a third innings.  Urias has given up more walks (14) than strikeouts (11) this year while having a going 0-2 with 5.40 ERA this year.

Urias was made expendable because Kenta Maeda is going to be coming off the disabled list and pitchers Alex Woods and Brandon McCarthy have been effective enough to hold onto pitching spots.

Urias’ development seems to have hit a bump in the road, which is not uncommon for young pitchers.  Before his last two starts Urias pitched a no-hitter into the seventh inning but unfortunately, his inability to throw strikes means he’ll have to work through that in Oklahoma City.

Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt summed up the team’s approach to Urias going forward, stating:

"“We’re not going to take an outing or two and send up a surrender flag,” Honeycutt said. “This kid’s got great stuff. He’s going to be great. It’s just a little bump in the road right now.”"

Dodgers fans (sports fans in general actually) will have to be patient rushing a young pitcher like Urias could stunt his development, being able to work on his mechanics in Triple-A will ease the pressure for Urias to succeed.

Fans should remember that Sandy Koufax was 36-40 over the first five years of his career before his career took off in 1961.  Even more recently Clayton Kershaw had 4.15 ERA over his first 23 starts in the major leagues.

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I don’t expect that Urias will be in the minors too long, given the Dodgers injury problems, and his talent Urias will be back soon enough.  For Dodgers fans expecting instant results, they’ll have to be patient and hope he can contribute during the season.