Monday night had all the makings of a slow baseball night for me. Sure, there were many major league and minor league games I could have followed on MLB.com and MiLB.com but they didn’t really wet my appetite. I was looking for a daily dose of Dodger baseball. The Great Lakes Loons and Rancho Cucamonga Quakes had the day off while the Oklahoma City Dodgers game was postponed because of rain. The Dodgers themselves had a 7:10 P.M. start which translates into 11:10 P.M. start in my time zone – the Atlantic Standard Time. That’s my bed time.

When It was all boiled down there was but one game for me to follow on MiLb.TV. The Tulsa Drillers were playing the Arkansas Travelers at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. When I tuned in I had forgotten Julio Urias was pitching for the Drillers. Since his last outing was perhaps one of the least successful in his career I was a bit apprehensive that maybe the rest of the world was starting to catch up to him. In that outing he had surrendered five earned runs in four innings of work.

As the game unfolded it turned out that I was again blessed to be following a classic performance by yet another Dodger youngster. During the 2014 season – among other highlights – I was dialed in to Jose De Leon’s feats with the Great Lakes Loons, Scott Schebler’s three homer game as well as his game in which he hit for the cycle with the Chattanooga Lookouts and Andres Santiago’s no-hitter also with the Lookouts.

Many believe that 18-year-old Julio Urias could become the next Fernando Valenzuela.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

By the time Urias exited the game I was left pining for more although the Arkansas Travelers fans probably were not. Just to skip ahead, the Drillers lost the game 1-0 in 12 innings but I was not on board for the final two innings. Arkansas had but two hits in the game yet pulled out a victory.

Urias is the youngest player in the Texas League being the only 18-year old in the league. On Monday night he pitched a full six innings facing the minimum of eighteen hitters. It matched his longest outing in his three year career. He previously has gone six innings in a game with the Great Lakes Loons on July 3, 2013. In that game he allowed only two base runners and struck out six.

In the bottom of the first inning he appeared to be a picture of confidence as soon as he threw his first pitch while striking out the Travelers lead off hitter on four pitches. The next hitter, center fielder Chad Hinshaw had a rare opportunity on the night singling on a 3-1 pitch. His hit was a soft pop up that fell in among a crowd with center fielder Travis Witherspoon, second baseman Brandon Dickson and shortstop Corey Seager all close to making a catch. Hinshaw’s view of the field from first base was short lived. After one pitch to right fielder Cal Towey that was fouled off, Julio Urias picked Hinshaw off first base forcing him to head for second base where he was easily tagged out. That was the last time Urias had to pitch from the stretch in the game.

This was the third time he had held the opposition scoreless in his four outings in 2015. On the night he threw but 70 pitches, 52 of them for strikes. He had swings and misses and called strikes on both corners of the plate as well as up an down. His fastball topped out around 95 mph and must have seemed much faster with his off-speed pitches coming in in the 80’s, some in the low 80’s. As a result of his command and assortment of pitches Urais recorded 10 strikeouts and walked none.

It’s no coincidence that Mike Brito, the legendary Dodgers scout who discovered Fernando Valenzuela, also discovered Julio Urias… and Yasiel Puig. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

It should not be forgotten in this game that Urias was locked in a pitchers duel. Travelers starter – right-hander Albert Suarez – also pitched six scoreless innings allowing just five hits and no runs. He struck out seven and walked but one while also displaying a change up that kept Drillers hitters a bit off balance.

Even with his last outing included Urias now has a 2.18 ERA and 26 strikeouts with just three walks in 20.2 innings on the season He’s holding opponents to a .167 batting average against him , and his WHIP is a miniscule 0.73.

Following his 3-1 count to Hinshaw in the first inning Urias did not go to another three ball count in the game. He struck out four hitters on three pitches each while recording seven swinging strikeouts and three on called strikes. He struck out four of the last six batters he faced.

I was surprised at how big Julio Urias looked on the mound. The 6’2”, 205 lb lefty now has size added to his repertoire of scare tactics for opposing batters.

The Travelers play-by-play announcers were certainly appreciative of the pitching battle going on between Urias and his counterpart Albert Suarez. They noted how efficient, Urias in particular, was in his pitch count and also noted that he had 15 first pitch strikes to Travelers hitters.

As the game progressed the Arkansas broadcast team referred to the Drillers lefty, not so much as Urias, but Julio. They also recounted the story I had heard before and they spoke kindly of Julio’s positive outlook on life. Quite some time ago when asked about his left eye which has a drooping eyelid due to surgery he responded: “That’s how God works,” Urias said in Spanish. “He gave me a bad left eye but a good left arm.”

If there was only one game for me to watch on Monday night then this one made one more than enough.