San Diego Padres scouting report on IF Luis Urias
After making his major league debut in 2018, Luis Urias is ready to lead a rush of talented San Diego Padres infielders to the majors over 2019 and 2020.
With each of our top 10 prospect lists this offseason, we will have a scouting report on one player from that organization’s top 10 list. With our recent review of the San Diego Padres, we will take a look at infielder Luis Urias, the Padres #4 prospect.
Player Profile
The San Diego Padres scored a signing coup with Luis Urias, signing him in December of 2013 out of Mexico. Urias had somehow slipped through much of the international market without getting signed until the Padres inked him in December.
He immediately showed his immense skills with a bat, hitting .297/.381/.339 with the Dominican Summer League and Arizona Rookie League teams for the Padres, with a combined 5 doubles, 1 triple, 10 stolen bases, and a 19/14 BB/K over 190 plate appearances.
The San Diego Padres chose to have Urias open with Tri-City in the Northwest League in 2015, but he quickly moved up to low-A Fort Wayne and never slowed down. Overall, he hit .299/.388/.335 on the season with 6 doubles, a triple, 8 steals, and a 21/19 BB/K over 268 combined plate appearances.
Urias had his breakout campaign on a national sphere in 2016. He spent most of the season at high-A, but received a late promotion to AAA for El Paso’s playoff run and didn’t look out of place at all at 19 years old. Overall, he hit .333/.404/.446 with 26 doubles, 5 triples, 6 home runs, 8 steals, and a 45/37 BB/K over 545 plate appearances.
He followed that up with a big 2017 season in AA, hitting .296/.398/.380 with 20 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs, 7 steals, and a 68/65 BB/K ratio. He was selected by the Padres to participate in the Arizona Fall League, and while he was overshadowed by some of his Peoria teammates, he had an impressive AFL, hitting .315/.443/.481 with 5 doubles, 2 triples, and a 14/5 BB/K over 70 plate appearances.
His impressive 2017 earned him top 100 rankings across the board in offseason lists. Baseball America had him #32, MLB Pipeline had him #36, and Baseball Prospectus had him #74.
Urias continued his impressive hitting in AAA this season, going .296/.398/.447 with 30 doubles, 7 triples, 8 home runs, 2 stolen bases, and a 67/109 BB/K ratio over 533 plate appearances. He was promoted to the majors in September where he hit .208/.264/.354 with a double, 2 home runs, a stolen base, and a 3/10 BB/K ratio in 53 plate appearances.