Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

Julio Urias

Was Julio Urias really ready to be called up to pitch for the Dodgers this year?  It’s a worthy debate, but I think the answer is ABSOLUTELY!  Here’s my two cents.

At age 20 Clayton Kershaw came to the majors and pitched 107 innings with a 4.26 ERA.  In his age 20 year he pitched 168 total innings between the majors and minors.  He allowed more hits than innings pitched and has a 2:1 strikeout/walk ratio.  At age 19, he totaled 122 innings.

Julio Urias currently has 101 innings pitched and a 3.95 ERA.  He has given up more hits than innings pitched but has struck out more than one an inning, and has almost a 3:1 strikeout/walk ratio.  As maddening as Urias’ control and overuse of pitches are, Clayton was a worse…. That went OK though, I would say!

Julio showed what he can do this year and he is getting better as he goes.  This year will be an important step in his development, so much so that he might be considered to be a #3 next year.  It took guts to bring him up and get the clock ticking now, but it was necessary.

Why have they not called up De Leon? You only need to look at their stats:  Urias had a 1.40 ERA at AAA with a 0.867 WHIP.  In 45 IP, he gave up 31 Hits and struck out 49 while walking 8 – a 6:1 strikeout/walk ratio. De Leon has been good, but he has a 3.14 ERA with a 1.060 WHIP. 56 Hits in 71 IP and 88 K’s to go with 20 BB – a 4:1 ratio.  Urias was awesome at AAA while De Leon was just “very good.”

De Leon gave up 9 HR at AAA, while Urias gave up but 2.  De Leon will be called up September 1 and while I believe his upside is a #2, Urias’ upside is that of a #1.  The fact of the matter is that Julio simply could not learn anymore in a league where he  “toyed” with the hitters during each start.  Jose  De Leon is still honing his craft at AAA, and could be very good right out of the box for the Dodgers.  I look forward to seeing him pitch.

I think Julio will stay in the rotation as the Dodgers monitor him.  He pitched 80 innings last year, due to his eye surgery, but I personally don’t think there is much difference between 130 innings and 150 innings.  I say “monitor him and let him pitch, while keeping him under 100 pitches per start.

16 thoughts on “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

  1. You’re up early Mark.

    Everyone else, take a lap and get stretched out. First pitch is right after breakfast today.

    .294/.366/.486. Another LH Reddick replacement is coming soon.

    http://dodgerblue.com/dodgers-news-andre-ethier-facing-live-pitching-running-bases-camelback-ranch/2016/08/21/

    Everybody likes Mr Softy.

    I still believe the Dodgers will be cautious with Urias. 97 pitches to go 6 last night. I read somewhere yesterday the Dodgers will keep him between 120-130 innings. I might be pulling a Limbaugh and quoting myself on that one, but if so, I sound spot on to me.

    Kazmir v Bailey. Vegas likes us with a lot of runs being scored.

    I don’t much care what De Leon’s numbers are at AAA. He is next up for a wore out starting staff. Hill scheduled for Wednesday. Think he can go 5? TBD scheduled the following day. I’m pretty sure he can’t go over 5.2. He goes go again the day after that against the Cubs so he’s gonna be tired. I’m pretty sure we won’t be favored in that one.

    It’s going to be an interesting week.

  2. Roberts has a bunch of coaches and trainers that he can think with and hopefully come up with the right lineup and rotation. FAZ will have final say about De Leon joining the rotation.

    An outfield of Toles, Pederson, and Reddick would be the best defensively but now is not the time to start giving lefty hitters a look at lefty pitching. It was smart to get Joc fixed first before exposing him again to lefties. That can be done next year.

    But, taking a player, Joc, that is OPSing .842 mostly against righties out of the lineup against lefties is hard to replace. Add to that the drops in performance by Agon, Seager, Utley, Grandal, Reddick against lefties and there is no wonder why the Dodgers sputter against lefties.

    Duke Snider benefitted from all the right handed hitters he played with in that most teams would make some attempt to not pitch a lefty against that them of Campanella, Hodges, Reese, Robinson, and Furilo. The Dodgers need a right handed Duke Snider to take advantage of teams that try their best to start lefties against the Dodgers.

    Reggie Smith was the lefty, I know switch hitter, that protected the Dodgers against all the righties against Cey, Baker, and Garvey not to mention Russel and the Toy Cannon.

    Puig and Turner haven’t been lefty killers, Kike’ is rusty, Thompson has a broken back and Puig might not be back on the team anyway. The best prospects are lefty swingers in Barringer and Verdugo,

    Maybe more than pitching the Dodgers need a stud righty bat that would allow Pederson to stay in CF now and Toles in LF, Barringer at 1st base, and Verdugo in RF for the future. I am talking about a Duke Snider/Reggie Smith type of righty bat (for thosse that are overly literal, I know that Snider was a lefty bat).

    If a trade were made now, Cespedes might be the best fit that might be posibly made. Puig and something else would be my idea.

    1. Bum
      The players at the top you were talking about like Agone, Cory, Utley, and Grandal is not the problem with the almost all rightie platoon team, and not everyone of those players, play when a leftie is starting.

      The problem are the part time players.

      These part time players are not getting consistent at bats, and when a player isn’t getting consistent at bats, it is hard to hit well.

      It is even harder to hit a pitcher, that the Dodgers don’t see much, for these part time players.

      The pitchers in our division, the players see much more often, they have a better chance at hitting against these pitchers.

      That is why Scott was able to own that one DBack pitcher like he did.

      Agone, Cory, don’t have as good an average against lefties, but they are at least about 250 or above, or around 250, against lefties.

      I much rather see the almost everyday line up, play against leftie pitchers.

      I think they have a much better chance to hit lefties, because they are getting consistent at bats.

      If Roberts wants to rest a couple of players, against a tough leftie, I can see that.

      But to continue to field this almost all rightie platoon line up, that is last in all of baseball in offense, I think is not a good idea.

      Platoons are suppose to give right or left hand
      hitters, an advantage against pitchers, that pitch for the opposite site these hitters hit, and obviously this line up is not giving the Dodgers any advantage, it is giving the Dodgers the worse offense in all of baseball.

      I don’t understand why leftie hitters, have trouble hitting pitchers, from there own side, because most rightie hitters, hit rightie pitchers fine.

      1. I really agree with your last sentence. Over the years, it seems there is a built in prejudice against left handed hitters. I think most managers give into that prejudice because the lack the courage to go against it. I wonder if someone made a study using left hand hitters in their first year or two of major league service if they would truly show an inability to hit lefty pitchers. Remember when Ethier first came up he hit lefties better than righties? I think managers giving into that prejudice sit their lefty batters and eventually the player has actually forgotten how to hit lefties because he never sees one. Not all baseball traditions are good ones…

  3. Let’s get fired up! Let’s get fired up!

    The fun part of the season is upon us. 6 weeks to go. 41 games to go. 369 innings to go. 1,107 outs to go.

    6 teams left standing vying for 3 positions. (Yes, the D-Backs didn’t make it.)

    Which 3 will join the Nationals and the Cubs in the playoffs?

    LA Dodgers (also known as the LA Tampa A’s)
    SF Giants
    St. Louis Cardinals
    Pittsburgh Pirates
    Miami Marlins
    NY Mets

    It’s crunch time.

  4. Will Mark I think Urias made your case, the way he pitched yesterday.

    After Anderson couldn’t handle the pressure the second time around, and Norris let his situation get him upset, Urias showed both of these veteran pitchers how to get the job done.

    Yesterday was Urias’s best outing to date, and I think they are going to have to keep him in the rotation, probably the rest of the year.

    Even the time that Urias had to pitch in Colorado helped him be the pitcher, he was yesterday, and is today.

    I think the problem was that Urias wasn’t facing the order the third time around in AAA, and he hasn’t done that at all in the majors.

    That will be his next big test and his next big learning experience, and after this year, I think that is what needs to happen.

    Whether Urias is at AAA, or the bigs, he is going to have to face the order, the third time through, because that is when a pitcher really learns what it takes to pitch in the bigs, and stay there.

    Until Urias is allowed to do that, we won’t know for sure what kind of pitcher he is going to be, but the way he pitched yesterday, showed that he has learned a lot this year.

  5. There’s no doubt they needed a RH bat especially with Puig in time out at AAA. You’re being too kind toward Kike calling him rusty. He’s been plain awful. He pulls off of everything and has done it all year. Grandal needs more AB’s against lefties to see if there’s a real drop off. I thought he was hitting about .270 against lefties.

    1. Hawkeye
      Puig was not any help against leftie pitchers this year.

      He was hitting 229 against lefties this year, and Turner is hitting even lower against leftie pitchers.

      I think since Puig is hitting well in AAA, and has probably got his confidence back, he would probably do better against leftie pitchers, if he is brought up, because he has hit leftie pitchers fine, in the past.

      I think we will see how the front office now thinks about Puig, by how long Toles stays up with the big team.

      Was Toles just called up to give Howie a day off, or will Toles stay up, to play if Reddick continues to do nothing.

      Reddick is has been on the Dodgers for close to a month now, and he hasn’t done well, and it seems like he is getting worse, and you can see the pressure is getting to Reddick, with every at bat, he continues to go hitless.

      I just hope Hill doesn’t have a performance in his first game back, like Anderson and Norris had.

      I just hope that Hill pitches well for the Dodgers, when he comes back, and he can pitch well through September and farther, if needed.

      1. You’re correct about Puig and Turner. However, historically I believe Puig has hit lefties well. Turner was bad against lefties in other seasons.

  6. I’m gonna stand up for Kiké Hernandez. At the end of last season he was a 23 year old with a career .285 average coming off a .307 year where he OPS’d .836. How did the FAZholes reward him? They benched him. Dumb move. Really. REALLY. Dumb move. This is how our geniuses reward young players who produce? Nice message guys. The best thing that could happen for Hernandez is to get as far away from these jerks as he can. Go to work for SF. They know how to reward effort.

    1. When the Dodgers signed Utley, I thought Kike could handle the platoon with him at 2B. I thought bringing back Kendrick was unnecessary. I will be the first to admit I was wrong.

    2. If that stunted his growth he wasn’t all that anyway.

      I do think he is all that. He was dealing with his fathers cancer early in the year (now in remission) andf just got into some bad habits. He will be back…

      In other news, Josh Reddick was scratched with a jammed finger.

      In still other news, Dave Roberts was seen pounding on Josh Reddick’s finger while Andrew Toles held him down!

          1. Because they are stupid? As has been pointed out many times, most of their business has been with Oakland and Tampa. Friends helping friends? Guggenheim must also be stupid.

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