Dodgers Mets Game One Preview

The Dodgers are kicking off a three game series with the New York Mets and sending their teenage top prospect, Julio Urias to the mound for his MLB debut tonight.

Dodger fans finally got what they have been asking for. Julio Urias is set to start for tonight’s game and make his MLB debut. Urias was signed by the Dodgers on August 23, 2012, just shortly after he turned 16 years old. Since 2012 Urias has been working hard in the Dodgers far system. Urias made his minor league debut on May 25, 2013 with the Great Lake Loons and he struck out six batters and threw three scoreless innings. Since 2012, Urias has proven himself to be a reliable pitcher and top prospect for the Dodgers. The past few off seasons multiple teams were in talks with the Dodgers and they all wanted Corey Seager or Julio Urias. Now that we have seen how Seager has handled being called up, I am excited to see Urias do the same.

It is hard to fully grasp that Urias is only 19 years old but has been with the Dodgers for almost four years now. He has done his due time in the minors and now it is time for him to shine in the show. The Dodgers explained that Urias is getting today’s start because they are pushing Alex Wood’s start back to Monday because he has some left triceps soreness.

Urias has spent this season at AAA Oklahoma City and with the team he has a record of 4-1 and an ERA of just 1.10. He has struck out 44 batters and walked 8 in 41 innings of work. In four seasons in the minors, Urias has a career ERA of 2.63. No matter what level it was, he stepped up to the plate and dominated. In his career, Urias only has a few starts in which he did not pitch well, other than that, he has been incredibly consistent.

Dave Roberts joined Chris Russo on High Heat this morning to talk about Urias and his start this evening. He said that Yasmani Grandal would be behind the plate to catch. He also mentioned that Urias will have a pitch limit of 80-90 pitches. They have been very careful about Urias’ pitch count because of his age. In his four seasons with the team, his career high pitch count is 89.

Chase Utley is leading off and facing the Mets for the first time in New York since the Ruben Tejada slide. When the Dodgers went to New York for the playoffs, Utley did not play or pinch hit in either game so this is the first time he will be playing them in the Big Apple. Howie Kendrick gets the start in left tonight. It looks like a pretty good lineup by the skipper.

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The Dodgers will be facing Jacob deGrom. DeGrom is coming into tonight’s game with a record of 3-1 and an ERA of 3.07. So far this season he has struck out 30 batters and walked 11. In the past deGrom has pitched well against the Dodgers so tonight it is really important that their bats are awake and ready for the heat he likes to throw. DeGrom has a fourseam fastball, slider, curve, change and sinker. His slider is thrown extremely hard and usually results in groundball outs.

With Utley and Urias in the starting lineup it is bound to be an exciting game. The game will be shown on Sports Net LA and the first pitched is scheduled for 7:10 EST or 4:10 PST.