Julio Urias' big debut for Dodgers vs. Mets falls flat
NEW YORK -- As the Los Angeles Dodgers swarmed around in their clubhouse Friday afternoon, Stan Kasten, the team’s president, found John Smoltz and reminisced about the Hall-of-Fame pitcher’s debut in 1988. Kasten was the Atlanta Braves’ president then and Smoltz was a highly anticipated 21-year-old colt about to take a major league mound for the first time. In a few hours, they would watch Julio Urias make his debut at just 19.
Smoltz’s debut had gone exceedingly well and for Kasten it was memorable. So was Stephen Strasburg’s in 2010, when Kasten, then the Washington Nationals’ president, watched him strike out 14 in seven innings. The hype before that one — “that was insane” — surpassed even the buzz before the first pitch at Citi Field. Still, despite the wealth of history, Kasten took a measured approach.
“The first day is just not important,” Kasten told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s now how we get him involved and into a routine and build him up. Even this year we’re not going to be relying on him to be in the rotation. But whatever we get out of him this year as a 19-year-old is gravy because we know his career is going to be terrific.”
Urias’ debut was not nearly as smooth or prolific. He struggled with his control and nearly did not make it out of the first inning, throwing 36 pitches as he allowed three runs and four hits. A few more — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would not let him throw 40 — and he would have been pulled. He left the mound for good after 2 ⅔ innings and 81 pitches, and those three runs, and watched as the Dodgers undid a four-run deficit in the ninth only to lose 6-5 to the Mets on walk off home run by Curtis Granderson.
But these results, while ugly, did not caption the moment altogether. The Dodgers had finally seen another stalwart of their future appear and Urias washed in the experience. A few moments before he threw his first pitch at 7:21 p.m. in Queens, Urias walked onto the field and remembered all that he went through to get to that mound. As a child he had a benign mass removed from behind his left eye. He signed out of Mexico at 16 and zoomed through the minors.
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Dodgers ready to unleash irrepressible Julio Urias, wise beyond his 19 years
Friday night, the stocky left-hander, the crown jewel of the Dodgers’ top-ranked farm system, took the mound wearing goggles and the No. 78. He became the first to start a game as a teenager since Felix Hernandez 11 years ago and made his debut at the same age as the Dodgers legend and countryman he is already drawing comparisons to — Fernando Valenzuela. Ultimately, it may be apt, but Urias’ knee-buckling curveball is more comparable to his teammate, Clayton Kershaw.
“I will never forget everything that happened in this game,” Urias said. “Because it is the happiest day of my life.”
The Dodgers didn’t call Urias up just out of charity but because they need him. Despite a $246 million payroll — the highest in baseball — they are 25-24 and already 4.5 games behind the Giants in the National League West. Outside of the annual brilliance of Kershaw — who leads baseball with a 1.48 ERA, 0.66 WHIP and 95 strikeouts in 79 innings — their starters’ ERA is 4.33.
And Los Angeles seems to be in the midst of a transition too. After years of unmitigated spending, they let Zack Greinke walk away to the division-rival Diamondbacks this offseason. They have already infused their roster with young talent -- 22-year-old shortstop Corey Seager was the former top prospect in the sport before this season and 24-year-old center fielder Joc Pederson was an All-Star as a rookie last year.
Now the Dodgers are trying to straddle the same line with the design that president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman used with success in Tampa Bay -- hoping to win now and build a boffo core of youth to keep them humming for years to come. Urias is just the most talented to come out of a farm system that is heralded as the sport’s best, according to Baseball America, and a reflection of the increased investment the organization has made in international scouting.
“We’re trying to get younger,” Kasten said. “Payroll is not a goal -- no specific number of payroll is a goal of any kind. Our goal always is to win this year. At the same time we have worried for two years about never wanting to be in a position where we were getting old. And to do that you need to mix in young guys. And of course with a younger team they tend to be cheaper but that’s going to happen. But the goal was never the payroll. The goal was to be good and to be good as long as possible.”
Urias will be part of that timeline. Dodgers brass will huddle soon to decide whether he remains in the majors or returns to Class AAA. Either way they will be careful to guard against overburden. It is clear the club believes in the left arm that controlled the ball when the night began.
“He’s really good,” Kershaw said. “He’s really good.”
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