Julio Urías

Early life

Urias is the son of Carlos Urias. He played with the Mexico national team as a youth, joining them on road trips since the age of 10. The Dodgers discovered and signed Urias on the same June 2012 scouting trip in Mexico on which they signed Yasiel Puig. The Dodgers paid a signing fee of $450,000, most of which went to the Diablos Rojos del México of the Mexican League.

Minor Leagues

Urías made his professional debut on May 25, 2013, for the Great Lakes Loons in the Midwest League as the youngest player in the league, striking out six batters over three shutout innings. He made a total of 18 starts and finished the season 2–0 with a 2.48 ERA, recording 67 strikeouts in 54.1 innings. He spent 2014 with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the California League. In 25 appearances (20 of which were starts), he was 2–2 with a 2.36 ERA. He struck out 109 batters while walking only 37.

Urías was selected to play for the World team at the 2014 All-Star Futures Game and was selected as the Dodgers organizational "Minor League Pitcher of the Year" for 2014. He received an invitation to attend the team's 2015 major league spring training camp. After pitching in two games, for a total of two innings and a 4.50 ERA, he was the first to be cut from the roster and was reassigned to the team's minor league camp on March 14, 2015.

Urías was ranked by MLBpipeline.com as the top left-handed pitching prospect in all of baseball entering the 2015 season. MLB.com ranked him the 8th-best prospect in baseball, and Baseball America named him the #10 prospect in 2015. The Dodgers assigned him to the AA Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League to start the 2015 season. He was 3–4 with a 2.77 ERA in 13 starts for Tulsa.

Urias was promoted to the AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers on August 31, 2015. He struggled in his first AAA action, allowing nine runs in 4  ¹⁄₃ innings over two starts. He also allowed six runs, including a grand slam homer, in just one inning in his one start in the Pacific Coast League playoffs. He was again invited to attend Dodgers spring training. He was assigned to AAA to begin the season, where he was 4–1 with a 1.10 ERA in seven starts. He also had a 27 inning scoreless streak during the month of May for Oklahoma City.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Urías was promoted to the Los Angeles Dodgers to make his major league debut against the New York Mets on May 27, 2016. At only 19 years of age, he was the youngest starting pitcher to debut in the Majors since Félix Hernández in the 2005 season and the youngest Dodgers starting pitcher to debut since 18 year old Rex Barney in the 1943 season. He struggled in his debut, lasting only 2 ²⁄₃ innings while allowing five hits, three runs and four walks. He did strike out three, including the first batter he faced, Curtis Granderson. He was optioned back to AAA after the game. Three days later, he was returned to the active roster after starter Alex Wood went on the disabled list. Urías made his second start on June 2 against the Chicago Cubs. In 5 innings pitched, he gave up 6 runs (5 earned), which included 3 home runs. He allowed 8 hits, and struck out 4. He picked up his first major league win, against the Milwaukee Brewers, on June 28, 2016, when he allowed two runs on two hits in six innings. He was the first teenage Dodger pitcher to throw 100 pitches in a game since Joe Moeller in 1962. He pitched in 18 games for the Dodgers, 15 of them starts, and was 5–2 with a 3.39 ERA, 84 strikeouts and 31 walks.

Urías pitched two innings of relief in game five of the 2016 National League Division Series, picking up the win. At 20 years, 62 days old he became the youngest Dodgers pitcher to ever pitch in the post-season. He was two weeks younger than Don Drysdale was in game four of the 1956 World Series. He was also the fourth youngest pitcher in MLB post-season history, behind Ken Brett (1967 World Series), Bert Blyleven (1970 ALCS), and Don Gullett (1970 NLCS and 1970 World Series). He became the youngest pitcher ever to start a post-season game when he started game four of the 2016 National League Championship Series. He allowed four runs in only 3  ²⁄₃ innings in the game.

Personal life

Urias underwent three surgeries on his left eye during his youth to remove a benign mass. As a result, his left eye is nearly closed, but he is able to see through it. When asked about his eye condition, Urias, a devout Roman Catholic, said, "That's how God works. He gave me a bad left eye but a good left arm." On May 19, 2015, Urias had an elective surgery to correct the condition.