Five things you need to know about Dodgers phenom Julio Urias
There is a full slate of 15 games on the schedule in Major League Baseball on Friday, but it’s likely many of the players involved in those games would rather be home on the couch for a night, or, better yet, paying customers at Citi Field in New York.
Los Angeles Dodgers 19-year-old phenom Julio Urias is scheduled to make his long-awaited major league debut in the first game of a three-game set with the New York Mets. Major league scouts have been talking about this day for years, since the uncommonly gifted left-hander was first discovered in 2012 when he was 15.
The Dodgers signed him for $450,000 and have been cautious in bringing him along through the minor leagues. With a fastball regularly reaching into the upper 90s, some believed he could have pitched in the big leagues two years ago as a 17-year-old. He finally gets the chance to show his stuff to the world tonight and you can see it for free right here because it is the Yahoo Sports’ Free Game of the Day! You can stream Urias’ debut at Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index and video home.
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Some have raved about Urias’ maturity. He will need it making his debut on such a big stage in the media mecca that is New York. But Urias seems to embrace the fact that he is young. For example, his Twitter handle is @theteenager7.
Here are five more things you need to know about the No. 2 overall prospect in baseball:
His heritage: Urias is a from Sinaloa, Mexico, a state on the Pacific coast, which has gained plenty of attention recently for ongoing violence between battling drug cartels. Urias’ success could be a welcome distraction and source of pride for his countrymen back home. Urias could also bring a fresh round of mania to Los Angeles 35 years after his countryman, Fernando Valenzuela, won the 1981 Cy Young award pitching for the Dodgers.
His track record: Urias has been nothing short of dominant in the minor leagues, including his seven starts and one relief appearance this season. He hasn’t allowed a run in 27 consecutive innings and had a 1.10 ERA over 41 innings. He struck out 44 batters with only eight walks and has surrendered just five earned runs all season. It’s that history that has led multiple teams to try to trade for Urias the Dodgers to respond to all those trade offers with the Heisman stiff arm. 
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His pitches: He commands three pitches. He breaks bats with regularity with a fastball that flirts with triple digits on the radar gun. He fools batters who are often trying to catch up with that heat by mixing in a change up and he has throws a devastating curveball that will buckle some knees.
His stamina: The Dodgers have been careful not to over-extend Urias at any level and that isn’t likely to change now that he’s pitching in the big leagues. He hasn’t thrown more than 82 pitches in a game or pitched more than six innings in a game this season. If he continues to be successful, his innings are likely to be limited and he might be moved to the bullpen so he can stay in the big leagues.
His eye: Urias has a droopy left eye caused by having surgery to remove a benign tumor discovered behind his eye when he was a child. That history might have scared off some major league franchises when he was first discovered but it didn’t worry the Dodgers who signed him and have watched him succeed at every step, including becoming the youngest player ever to play in a Futures Game in 2014 as part of the All-Star week festivities when he was just 17.
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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
