Dodgers Way Quick Hits: Hyun Jin Ryu, Matt Kemp, Julio Urias

The Dodgers beat the A’s on Tuesday with a nice looking 4-2 victory in Oakland. It was the Dodgers’ first time winning in Oakland since 2014. Here is the rest of the news from August 7th.

Hyun-Jin Ryu has not appeared in a game since May 2nd of this season. The often injured pending free-agent ripped his groin muscle from the bone in a one and one third inning start against the Diamondbacks and has not played since. Ryu has, however, started the rehab process and after a clean appearance with Rancho Cucamonga, the Dodgers’ High-A affiliate, Ryu played with Triple-A OKC on Tuesday. The 31-year old southpaw went five innings, gave up five hits and a run, and struck out just three batters. The outing took him 71 pitches. Ryu was enjoying a great season before his injury. His status amongst the rotation and the bullpen is unknown right now and his return date is still yet to be set.

Other notes…

More from Dodgers Way

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• Dodgers might find their next Tyler Anderson with this free agent target
• Former Astro seemingly takes uncalled for shot at Cody Bellinger after Cubs deal
• Are Giants falling off and joining Dodgers at back of Carlos Correa chase?
• Dodgers’ 2023 lineup without Trea Turner isn’t as impressive as it should be

• Matt Kemp has been sitting in a horrible slump lately but Tuesday night’s effort against the A’s could serve as the turning of the tide in Kemp’s struggles. Kemp hit a single off the end of the bat in the top of the seventh and in a post-game interview, the 33-year old’s mood was noticeably lighter than it has been in the last few days. Kemp, who was the team’s hero in the first half, is looking to regain his form and begin producing in late stages of the season.

• Julio Urias was the phenom growing up. By 17 years old, he was the youngest player in Double-A and he was already embarrassing hitters. His fastball was graded as one of the best amongst other prospects and his curveball was even better than the heater. But, last year, disaster struck for the young pitcher when his left anterior capsule tore and he required one of the most serious surgeries in all of baseball.

Urias has recovered. He is throwing in games and his fastball is still in the 90’s but a recent article by Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs would suggest that relying on Urias this year to be productive from the pen may be a huge reach. Longenhagen was in Arizona, watching Urias along with a scout who was there to observe the prospect’s progress.

But, what they found was underwhelming. Urias’s velocity was down about three miles per hour from what was originally reported and his pitches, once rated in the 60s on the rating scale, were no better than 45’s with the occasional 50. Urias can still improve but the results reported by Longenhagen are very unnerving.