For the past two seasons former Dodgers Director of Player Development DeJon Watson and former Dodgers Director of Amateur Scouting Logan White were extremely cautious with top Dodgers pitching prospect Julio Urias – and with very good reason. After all, Urias pitched nearly all of the 2013 season as a 16-year-old and nearly all of 2014 as a 17-year-old.

When legendary Dodgers scout Mike Brito signed the hard-throwing Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico native on August 23, 2012 shortly after his 16th birthday, Watson and White had every intention of sending Urias to the Ogden Raptors of short season Pioneer Rookie League to begin his professional career. The problem with this plan was that the Raptors would not begin play until late June, three weeks after the 2013 MLB Amateur Draft, and they did not want Urias to sit around that long before competing.

Instead Watson and White decided to have Urias begin his professional career with the Dodgers Low Single-A affiliate Great Lakes Loons with every intention of reassigning him to the Raptors once their season began. What Watson and White weren’t expecting was for the 16-year-old lefty phenom to absolutely blow away guys who were four and five years older than him. As a result, the Dodgers brain trust was forced to re-think the situation.

In his professional debut with the Loons on May 25, 2013 , Urias struck out six batters over three shutout innings. He would go on to finish the 2013 season with a 2-0 record and an insane 2.48 ERA. In his 18 starts with the Loons Urias struck out 67 while walking only 16 for a K/BB ratio of 4.19. The kicker is that he did all of this in only 54.1 innings pitched. It goes without saying that had Urias not been on a strict innings-limit per start (usually three) because of his extremely young age, he could have very well finished the 2013 season with over 10 wins.

Although Urias rightfully spent all of spring training 2014 in minor league camp, he made one start with the Dodgers on March 15 against the San Diego Padres. And though the (now) 17-year-old pitched only one inning, he retired the side in order with two strikeouts.

Urias made his major league spring training debut on March 15, 2014 and struck out two of the three batters he faced – including Padres slugger Yonder Alonso on four pitches.
(Video capture courtesy of Dustin Nosler)

Urias spent the entire 2014 season with the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. But just as they had done the year before, Watson and White (and former Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti) again had him on a strict innings limit

“All decisions involving Julio come from the Dodgers front office,” said Quakes pitching coach and former Dodger Matt Herges. “They tell us when he pitches and when he doesn’t and we do what we’re told.”

In spite of these restrictions Urias appeared in 25 games with the Quakes in 2014 (20 starts) and finished the season with a 2-2 record and an outstanding 2.36 ERA. He struck out a ridiculous 109 batters while walking 37 in 87.2 innings of work. But here again, he could have easily won upwards of 10 games had he been allowed to pitch the five-inning requisite. Urias and fellow Quakes teammate Corey Seager were selected for the 2014 Futures All-Star Game where he pitched one inning for the World Team, retiring all three batters he faced with one strikeout.

Urias absolutely dominated hitters in the highly-competitive California League in 2014.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

On September 26 and to the surprise of no one, Urias was named the Dodgers 2014 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year. And though he fully understands why Colletti, Watson and White had him on an innings-limit for the past two seasons, he feels that he is now ready to go longer.

“I’m going to work really hard this off-season to focus on being able to go six or seven innings,” said Urias through an interpreter. “I’m going to work hard this off-season to be able to do that.”

With a completely revamped Dodgers front office that includes some of the brightest (and youngest) minds in the business, especially in the area of player development, it only makes sense that new Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi and new Director of Player Development Gabe Kapler allow Urias to go longer in his 2015 starts. It also makes sense that Urias should be assigned to big league camp this coming spring, although he will most likely begin the 2015 season at Double-A Tulsa or possibly even Triple-A Oklahoma City. And if the planets align just right, perhaps Mike Brito’s prediction that his star prospect will be pitching in the big leagues as an 18-year-old will come true.

“I think he’s ready to pitch [in the major leagues] right now,” said Brito. “If they give him the ball right now he can get anybody out. I’ve been saying that the whole year. This guy has an above average fastball, an above average slider, an above average change-up and then he’s got control – that’s very important. He’s not afraid to go to the hitters and he’s got command of his four pitches.

“I don’t want to say something that will hurt anybody but I think they should have let him go further than one or two innings,” added Brito. “When he comes over here [to Dodger Stadium] he’s going to pitch at least six or seven innings. I make him think that, too. I make him think that he’s ready and he says ‘I’m ready, the only thing I need is give me the ball.’”

Legendary Dodgers scout Mike Brito still believes that Urias will be pitching in the big leagues as an 18-year-old. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The time has come to take the kid gloves off of Julio Urias.