Julio Urias dominates & struggles in his spring debut (Video)

Julio Urias made his spring debut for the Dodgers yesterday after missing time with groin tenderness, and he showcased a lot of what makes him such a highly touted prospect, as well as evidence that developmental time is still needed. Urias actually ended up taking the loss for the game, and his overall line for the day was mediocre. He lasted only one inning, while surrendering three runs on three hits and a walk. However, he also struck out the side in order in his first inning of work.

It’s not too hard to figure out why Urias struggled yesterday. Even in the inning where he struck out the side, his fastball command was loose, and he was consistently missing up in the zone and to his arm side. Urias was (understandably) amped up for his appearance, so it’s probably not a coincidence that his downfall came on fastballs and curves left up in the zone.

Still, despite the struggles, he also gave fans a glimpse of why he’s so highly touted. The fastball doesn’t have elite velocity, but he hides it well and it has explosive life, so it definitely plays up. His curve actually didn’t show well most of the time, probably because he was overthrowing, but you could see the sharpness was special the few times he broke it off. And while Urias didn’t use his change a lot, it looked repeatable and impossible to distinguish from his fastball when he did throw it, along with having nice fade and sink.

There’s much more to come from Urias, and hopefully we get to see him again this spring, but for now here’s edited video of every pitch he threw yesterday (except one where the broadcast froze).

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K

K

K

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Single

Double

Triple

Walk