Julio Urias To Pitch Today

(Photo Courtesy From Great Lakes Loons)

The only relevant (for now) prospect in the Dodgers system younger than me will be pitching to major league hitters today in a minor league game.

Hah.

His combination of youth, control, upside, and pitchability is something that has every Dodger fan somewhat familiar with the 17 year old pitcher excited. And according to Dylan Hernandez, he will be pitching today to hated division rivals the San Diego Padres.

17-year-old Julio Urias will pitch day for the #Dodgers against #Padres.
— Dylan Hernández (@dylanohernandez) March 15, 2014

And now we are getting word he’s starting (!)

17-year-old LHP Julio Urias will start today's ballgame against the Padres. #Dodgers
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 15, 2014

It’s almost comical to see how good Julio Urias is at such a young age. And this is what I absolutely love about baseball. Only in this sport can we see a professional game that is normally reserved for players in their mid 20s-30s dominated by someone who really should be getting ready for the high school exit exam. Yeah, Urias should really be worried about hitting all of his deadlines for the SAT he should be taking, but nope, he’s going to be on the same field with potential hall of famers. In his team’s clubhouse will be players such as Yasiel Puig, Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier, A.J. Ellis, Carl Crawford, Zack Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Clayton Kershaw. All of these players are bonafide major leaguers, 2 of these players are among the best int he game at their respective positions. But there is 17 year old Julio Urias getting ready to go up against the San Diego Padres.

Insane.

I’m going to take this opportunity to compare Julio Urias and another left hander we all know and love dearly, Clayton Kershaw.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2007	19	Great Lakes	MIDW	A	LAD	7	5	.583	2.77	20	20	97.1	1.253	6.7	0.5	4.6	12.4	2.68

And now Urias

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2013	16	Great Lakes	MIDW	A	LAD	2	0	1.000	2.48	18	18	54.1	1.104	7.3	0.8	2.7	11.1	4.19

Look at the age difference. And yeah, I get it. Smaller sample size for Urias, different hitters. But the point is against similar competition, Julio Urias was actually a better pitcher at 3 years younger than Clayton Kershaw. Look, I know this could mean nothing, Julio Urias hasn’t even shown he can pitch in sustained bursts, he hasn’t shown he can stay healthy, he hasn’t even fully matured. But every time I think one of these caveats

I always end up with ” YEAH, BUT HE’S 17!!!”

It’s unreal. If he starts at High-A Rancho and you can see him, please do so, it may be awhile until we can see him again.

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