[h=2]Julio Urias will join Dylan Bundy and Felix Hernandez as the only teenagers to pitch in the big leagues this century[/h]
Arguably the best prospect in all of baseball will make his MLB debut Friday. The Dodgers are planning to call up left-hander Julio Urias and start him in their series opener against the Mets, the team announced Thursday morning.
Coming into the season Baseball America ranked Urias as the top pitching prospect in all of baseball and the 4th best prospect overall. So far this season he's gone 4-1 with a 1.10 ERA in 40 innings with the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate. Urias has 44 strikeouts and eight walks in those 40 innings.
Here is a snippet of MLB.com's free scouting report on Urias:
1. Urias will be only the second teenager to start a game this century.
Urias will be 19 years and 288 days old when he makes his debut Friday. The last teenager to pitch in the big leagues was Dylan Bundy, who was 19 years and 193 days old when he debuted as a reliever with the Orioles in 2012.
The only other teenager to start a game this century is Felix Hernandez. He made his debut with the Mariners at 19 years and 118 days in 2005. Urias will join Bundy and Felix as the only teenagers to pitch in MLB this century, though it is worth noting Edwin Jackson made his debut on his 20th birthday.
Oh, and by the way, the last 19-year-old to pitch for the Dodgers? He's a big deal. You've probably heard about him.
2. Urias can not accrue a full year of service time in 2016, delaying his free agency.
At this point of the season any player who is called up to the big leagues for the first time will not be able to accrue a full years's worth of service time. That means instead of becoming a free agent following the 2021 season, they have to wait until after the 2022 season. That includes Urias. The Dodgers get those extra few months of control.
Urias will, however, be eligible for Super Two following the 2018 season, meaning he gets to go through arbitration four times instead of the usual three. That's the trade-off. He'll have to wait one extra year for free agency but at least he'll get some extra money in his pocket thanks to the extra year of arbitration in the meantime. Now, that said ...
3. ... Urias may only be up temporarily.
The Dodgers are calling Urias up to give lefty Alex Wood a few extra days between starts. Wood was scheduled to start Friday but will now start Monday instead. This could very well be a one-start cameo for Urias, especially since Hyun-Jin Ryu (shoulder surgery) and Brandon McCarthy (Tommy John surgery) are nearing a return.
Urias is so good that he could easily force the Dodgers to keep him in the rotation, most likely replacing Mike Bolsinger. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has been very diligent with his best young pitchers dating back to his time with the Rays, however. Pitchers like David Price and Chris Archer all made brief cameos one year before being turned loose the next. Urias could be in for the same treatment.
4. Urias is on a strict workload limit this season.
Because he is still so very young, Urias has never thrown more than 87 2/3 innings in a season. That was two years ago. Last season he threw only 80 1/3 innings. Teams usually don't like their best young pitchers to increase their workload by more than 30-40 innings from one year to the next, putting Urias on target for 120-130 innings in 2016. Maybe they'll stretch him to 140 innings.
Urias has already thrown 41 innings in Triple-A this season, so he has at best another 100 innings to go this year, probably a little less. The season is not yet one-third of the way complete, so that's not a lot of innings for the remaining two-thirds of the season. The Dodgers have talked about using Urias as a reliever and it's very possible he winds up in the bullpen down the stretch, once he begins to approach his innings limit.
<figure class="image-embed pull-none image-original">
<figcaption class="image-embed-figcaption">The Dodgers are calling up 19-year-old wunderkind Julio Urias. USATSI </figcaption></figure> <figure class=" img">
</figure> Mike Axisa CBS Sports Writer
follow Mike Axisa joined CBS Sports in 2013. He has been a member of the BBWAA since 2015 and has previously written about both fantasy baseball and real life baseball for MLBTradeRumors.com, FanGraphs.com, RotoAuthority.com,... Full Bio
Arguably the best prospect in all of baseball will make his MLB debut Friday. The Dodgers are planning to call up left-hander Julio Urias and start him in their series opener against the Mets, the team announced Thursday morning.
Coming into the season Baseball America ranked Urias as the top pitching prospect in all of baseball and the 4th best prospect overall. So far this season he's gone 4-1 with a 1.10 ERA in 40 innings with the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate. Urias has 44 strikeouts and eight walks in those 40 innings.
Here is a snippet of MLB.com's free scouting report on Urias:
The best left-handed pitching prospect in the game, Urias possesses plus or better stuff across the board. He can throw his lively fastball, which parks at 91-94 mph and reaches 97, for strikes on both sides of the plate. There's also some deception with Urias' heater, and opponents can't sit on it because he has such good feel for his big-breaking curveball and fading changeup.
Here are four more things to know about the Urias call-up.1. Urias will be only the second teenager to start a game this century.
Urias will be 19 years and 288 days old when he makes his debut Friday. The last teenager to pitch in the big leagues was Dylan Bundy, who was 19 years and 193 days old when he debuted as a reliever with the Orioles in 2012.
The only other teenager to start a game this century is Felix Hernandez. He made his debut with the Mariners at 19 years and 118 days in 2005. Urias will join Bundy and Felix as the only teenagers to pitch in MLB this century, though it is worth noting Edwin Jackson made his debut on his 20th birthday.
Oh, and by the way, the last 19-year-old to pitch for the Dodgers? He's a big deal. You've probably heard about him.
2. Urias can not accrue a full year of service time in 2016, delaying his free agency.
At this point of the season any player who is called up to the big leagues for the first time will not be able to accrue a full years's worth of service time. That means instead of becoming a free agent following the 2021 season, they have to wait until after the 2022 season. That includes Urias. The Dodgers get those extra few months of control.
Urias will, however, be eligible for Super Two following the 2018 season, meaning he gets to go through arbitration four times instead of the usual three. That's the trade-off. He'll have to wait one extra year for free agency but at least he'll get some extra money in his pocket thanks to the extra year of arbitration in the meantime. Now, that said ...
3. ... Urias may only be up temporarily.
The Dodgers are calling Urias up to give lefty Alex Wood a few extra days between starts. Wood was scheduled to start Friday but will now start Monday instead. This could very well be a one-start cameo for Urias, especially since Hyun-Jin Ryu (shoulder surgery) and Brandon McCarthy (Tommy John surgery) are nearing a return.
Urias is so good that he could easily force the Dodgers to keep him in the rotation, most likely replacing Mike Bolsinger. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has been very diligent with his best young pitchers dating back to his time with the Rays, however. Pitchers like David Price and Chris Archer all made brief cameos one year before being turned loose the next. Urias could be in for the same treatment.
4. Urias is on a strict workload limit this season.
Because he is still so very young, Urias has never thrown more than 87 2/3 innings in a season. That was two years ago. Last season he threw only 80 1/3 innings. Teams usually don't like their best young pitchers to increase their workload by more than 30-40 innings from one year to the next, putting Urias on target for 120-130 innings in 2016. Maybe they'll stretch him to 140 innings.
Urias has already thrown 41 innings in Triple-A this season, so he has at best another 100 innings to go this year, probably a little less. The season is not yet one-third of the way complete, so that's not a lot of innings for the remaining two-thirds of the season. The Dodgers have talked about using Urias as a reliever and it's very possible he winds up in the bullpen down the stretch, once he begins to approach his innings limit.
<figure class="image-embed pull-none image-original">
follow Mike Axisa joined CBS Sports in 2013. He has been a member of the BBWAA since 2015 and has previously written about both fantasy baseball and real life baseball for MLBTradeRumors.com, FanGraphs.com, RotoAuthority.com,... Full Bio