Los Angeles Dodgers Too Cautious with Pitcher Julio Urias

Despite a promising 2016 season and high-praise, Julio Urias will begin this season in the minor leagues. Are the Los Angeles Dodgers being too cautious with their young stud pitcher?

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias will not begin the 2017 season with the big league team. The 20-year-old lefty will, instead, start his year with the Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. However, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, he will make his debut in Triple-A for the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

Some speculate the assignment to Single-A is merely an opportunity to keep Urias close to Dodger Stadium. The Quakes are located much closer to Los Angeles than the Dodgers’ Triple-A squad several states over. By assigning him to the Quakes, Urias has an opportunity to stay closer to the team in preparation for 2017.

Regardless of which minor league team he debuts with this season, it’s clear he will begin the year away from Los Angeles. It’s a somewhat surprising decision considering there is no rookie status to keep in place. Urias even lost his Rookie of the Year eligibility last year by appearing in 77 innings for the Dodgers.

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It would appear Los Angeles is simply remaining cautious with their prized young pitcher. But are they being too cautious?

Urias pitched a total of 122 regular season innings last year. Among them, 45 came while pitching for Oklahoma City. Tack on the additional 5.2 in the postseason and Urias’ total ends at 127.2.

For a veteran who has been around professional baseball for a few seasons, this is quite low. For a guy like Urias still developing his talents, it’s about as high as the modern day prospect should reach.

The Dodgers are lucky that they can afford to keep Urias developing in the minor leagues. They have a starting rotation which includes five men who deserve MLB roster spots. This doesn’t even include Scott Kazmir who will begin 2017 on the disabled list. Alex Wood is also on the MLB roster to start the year, but will pitch out of the bullpen. Their much healthier rotation at the start of this season has pushed Urias down to the farm for a little longer.

The most unfortunate factor of all might be how there really never was a plan for getting Urias onto the MLB roster. Along with Wood, Luis Avilan and Grant Dayton are lefties Dave Roberts has in his bullpen. Generally, three southpaws is the maximum number most teams will have in their relief core. The Dodgers already have this without Urias around. So, how do they possibly get him any playing time at all?

There are plenty of question marks regarding the Dodgers’ rotation. Hyun-Jin Ryu returns this season after missing almost all of 2016. Brandon McCarthy also battled injuries last year as well. Urias is surely on the radar to take over for someone once an injury occurs. The problem is that he might not be the first one they can call upon.

Instead of finding some way to get Urias more big league innings, the Dodgers are being overly careful. They are essentially setting him up to spend a few more weeks training in the minor leagues in preparation for his next big league stint. It’s a great plan except those innings in the minor leagues are still taking a toll on his body. If he’s going to pitch, why not have it take place at the big league level where he can get the best experience possible?

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There’s certainly a method to the madness. After posting a 3.39 ERA last season, though, Urias looks like he’s headed backwards. One day soon his time will come when he rejoins the Dodgers and stays there for good. In the meantime, Urias will have to pitch his heart out in an attempt to work his way back to MLB.

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