Los Angeles Dodgers: Players who are going to shock everyone in 2020
By Jason Reed
1. Julio Urias
The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Julio Urias on his 16th birthday in 2012. It has felt like Urias has been a Dodger forever because of this, making a lot of people forget how young he truly is. Urias turned 23 in August, which makes him two years younger than Walker Buehler, who has taken the moniker of being the Dodgers’ next ace.
Urias’ career was derailed by shoulder surgery that saw him miss action for over a year. After making a return in late 2018, the Dodgers opted to keep Urias in the bullpen to limit his innings and allow him to ease back into form.
Urias quietly thrived all season and was a huge reason why the Dodgers’ bullpen finished first in the NL in ERA, despite the narrative that the bullpen was horrendous. Urias had a 2.49 ERA and 85 strikeouts in a career-high 79 and two-thirds innings pitched.
With Ryu and Rich Hill‘s contracts expiring and Clayton Kershaw getting older, it is now time to give Urias a chance as a starter and see what he can do. Let’s not forget, we are not far removed from Urias being the best pitching prospect in baseball and he absolutely still has the stuff to be just that.
Urias is going to be the guy that bursts onto the scene in the starting rotation and solidifies himself as a top-three arm. Haeding into the postseason, we will be talking about which game Urias should be starting in the NLDS, not what inning to bring him out of the bullpen.