Despite Struggles, Julio Urias Remains Los Angeles Dodgers Key Piece
Dodgers lefty struggling in final season with Dodgers
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . From 2019-2022, Julio Urias was second in the majors in ERA (2.63) and tied for fourth in wins (44).
. . . In the Wild Card era, Urias is one of just four lefties to amass a 185 or higher ERA+ in 175 or more innings - Randy Johnson four times, Clayton Kershaw twice, then he and Blake Snell each accomplishing the feat once, with Urias’ coming in 2022.
Leading Off
Despite Struggles, Julio Urias Remains ‘Ride Or Die’ For Dodgers
By Chris Camello
LOS ANGELES – One of the most intriguing aspects in sports is how to view a star player who’s accomplished so much for your team recently but is in the midst of a frustrating season.
Some might cut him some slack and stay calm amidst the struggles while reminding themselves this guy is a reason why they’ve won so much in recent years. Others will react more harshly with intense criticism and an attitude that exudes a “What have you done for me lately?” mentality.
Los Angeles Dodgers fans have found themselves in such a conundrum this season with their beloved ace Julio Urias who has stumbled his way through the 2023 season.
While the Dodgers (70-46) have surged to first place in the NL West despite their ups and downs with the pitching staff featuring numerous injuries, inconsistencies, and rookies forced into enhanced roles, Urias has been at the heart of some of those issues.
After finishing last season as a Cy Young Award finalist posting a 17-7 record with an NL-best 2.16 ERA, many believed Urias was primed for another huge year with the Dodgers, especially since he’s also in the final year of his contract.
Unfortunately, the year has been a frustrating one for the dynamic lefty. He currently boasts a 9-6 record with a career-high 4.39 ERA while also missing significant time earlier in the season with a hamstring injury. Even more concerning is the dip in velocity on his fastball going from 96-97 MPH to 91-93 at times without any clear explanation.
Is it fatigue? Was the hamstring a bigger issue than what was believed? Is there more pressure of being an impending free agent? Has he felt disrespected by the Dodgers organization?
These are all valid questions asked by the media and fans to get a handle on what’s going on with a frontline starter who has anchored this pitching staff for the better part of the last three seasons. The fact is, all of these issues could explain Urias’ struggles this year, and the fact is anybody can struggle in this game, even the stars.
Urias has had five starts this season where he has surrendered five or more earned runs (Photo credit: Nick Wass/AP)
However, Urias’ issues are magnified because of their poor timing, considering the decline of Tony Gonsolin, an All-Star in 2022, a shoulder ‘injury’ that sidelined Clayton Kershaw, and talented albeit inexperienced rookies like Bobby Miller, Emmitt Sheehan, and Michael Grove trying to fill the gaps but not consistently despite showing potential.
Not having a surefire ace leading the charge every fifth day and establishing himself as a stopper has led to concerns about how far the Dodgers can go with this staff.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman clearly knew he needed starting pitching depth, but in a competitive market with few frontline options, he wasn’t able to reel in that trophy fish at the deadline. Instead, Friedman settled for medium-sized catches like Lance Lynn and Ryan Yarbrough who have both pitched well in Dodger blue thus far.
Friedman struck out landing either veteran aces Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander from the New York Mets, and while he thought he had a deal in place for lefty Eduardo Rodriguez of the Detroit Tigers, Rodriguez stunningly refused to waive his no-trade clause opting to stay in Detroit and be closer to his family.
However, even if Freidman landed one or two of the above-mentioned names, the fact is the Dodgers would still need an elite version of Urias to help secure a division title and a long run in October. Let’s not forget this is a guy who has been manager Dave Roberts’ go-to guy in October in recent years as both a starter and reliever and has proven he can handle the playoff pressure.
Even the addition of a Scherzer or a Verlander wouldn’t have been enough to hide his struggles in the rotation; he would still be an X-factor that could be the difference between another World Series appearance and another early exit.
Friedman and the Dodgers now have no choice but to ‘ride or die’ with Urias in what could be his final months in LA. Hopefully, with two months left in the season, Urias can find that filthy, unhittable stuff that makes him one of the league’s toughest gamers and elite pitchers.
It appears that he’s already turning a corner with consecutive scoreless outings in wins over the Oakland A’s and Arizona Diamondbacks recently and has only surrendered three earned runs in his last 17 innings.
That’s encouraging news for the Dodgers as their pitching staff continues to round into form with the return of Clayton Kershaw and potentially Walker Buehler.
However, even with those internal additions and the others that have come at the deadline, the diehard fans of LA understand this could be his last run as a Dodger will ride or die with “El Cuilichi” no matter what.
Chris Camello has been a Los Angeles-based sports writer and reporter for 10 years covering the Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Angels, USC basketball, and LA Sparks for Nitecast Media. He has also written for the Southern California News Group covering high school sports throughout Los Angeles. He is currently the co-host of "The Outlet Forum," a podcast covering everything in the world of hoops. You can follow Chris on Twitter X (@Chris_Camello) or Instagram (@ccamello1).
Extra Innings
The two most similar pitchers at the same point of their career to Julio Urias have been a pair of lefties, Chris Sale and Whitey Ford. Both had some interestingly similar struggles in their sixth full MLB season.
Sale was still an All-Star and a top-5 finisher in the American League Cy Young in 2015 for the White Sox, but he saw his ERA+ drop nearly 60 points from the previous season (173-114), led the majors in hit batsmen, and uncorked more than twice as many wild pitches at the previous season (7-3). He was traded after the 2016 season by the White Sox.
Ford had his first five years interrupted by two years of military service, but he tallied 1009 innings in those years, and his sixth full season, 1957, was marred by shoulder soreness throughout the year. He had an excellent ERA in the postseason that year for the Yankees (1.13 in two World Series starts), but he simply didn’t have the strikeout stuff that he typically showed in October, and the Yankees fell to the Milwaukee Braves in that season’s fall classic.