Dodgers: What Julio Urias’ DL Stint Means for His MLB Timeline

On Wednesday afternoon the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers placed young, phenom prospect, Julio Urias on the 10-day disabled list with shoulder inflammation.

Urias was sent back to Los Angeles Wednesday evening to get his shoulder examined by team doctor Neal ElAttrache after experiencing soreness in his throwing shoulder following his last start.

Urias was sent down to Oklahoma City on May 21st after experiencing some control issues in his first five starts in the big leagues, walking 14 batters in just over 23 innings. Pitching coach, Rick Honeycutt noticed a twink in his delivery and encouraged Dave Roberts to send him down to Triple-A so he could work on his mechanics with OKC pitching coach Matt Herges.

It took Urias some time to settle into his old form in the minors, but his last start showed positive improvements before feeling the soreness in his shoulder. In Urias’ most recent start he pitched 5 ⅔ innings with eight strikeouts while only walking one batter.

Shortly after that start, Urias told the doctors about his pain in his throwing shoulder. When the team didn’t see any improvement from the injury, they decided to put him on the DL and send him to Dr. ElAttrache.

The team has shut Julio down completely for the time being. There’s no timetable for when Urias will resume throwing activities again, but at this point, the team isn’t in a hurry to rush him back.

Dave Roberts wants to make sure his inflammation fully reduces before Urias begins throwing the baseball on a daily basis again. 

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The news about Urias is worrisome for Dodger fans. Urias is expected to be a vital part of a championship club that is looking to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1988.

A positive note is that the MRI showed no structural damage. The Dodgers are loaded with depth at starting pitching so they could afford to let Urias heal. At 20 years-old, the Dodgers have tried just about everything to protect his golden arm. From shutting down his innings to moving him to the bullpen, to even extended spring training.

The issue, in this case, doesn’t seem to be the regime that Urias is following, but injuries like shoulder and elbow inflammation are quite common for pitchers. Naturally, whenever you hear of an injury to the elbow or the shoulder of a pitcher, you hold your breath. Especially considering when it’s on one of your prized arms like Urias.

Urias has plenty of time to get healthy and recapture his dominant form that the organization knows he can be. The Dodgers are fortunate to have an excess amount of adequate starters to give Urias the time he needs to prepare for the postseason run.

I know Urias is still 20-years old, but part of me thinks all this gentle care is what is wrong with baseball nowadays. We saw this issue arise when Stephen Strasburg first came up with the Nationals, and his career has still been plagued by injuries. Why was it that during the 80’s managers never closely watched pitchers days rest or pitch count.

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I’m not downplaying the severity of pitching injuries. I just wish organizations would let pitchers develop at their own rate instead of trying to control every aspect of their throwing. In this case, let’s hope Urias is back pitching sometime near the All-Star break.