How Julio Urias became the ace of the Dodgers — and maybe their closer

ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.

LOS ANGELES — Julio Urias’ career, he said, “has been a lot about patience.” When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him out of Mexico 10 years ago, he was 16, tabbed as a wunderkind and exceedingly eager.

“I wanted to conquer the world,” Urias, speaking in Spanish, said last week. “I wanted to throw all the time. But I had to understand that it’s a business, that things happen, and I had to learn that.”

Urias, now 26, has completed his second full season as a major league starting pitcher, evolving as a dominant, steadying presence on a star-laden team loaded with players who absorb far more attention. He led the majors in wins in 2021 and led the National League in ERA in 2022, establishing himself as one of the best pitchers in the sport.

Before that came patience.

The Dodgers, mindful of both Urias’ status and his age, were careful with his innings and slow to promote him as he moved up their system as a teenager. Five years in, he got an extended spring training assignment in 2017, on the heels of an impressive rookie season. Then shoulder surgery robbed him of most of the following year, followed by a hybrid role and more conservative usage in 2019 and 2020. It was all done in an effort to keep Urias healthy, to get the most out of his prized left arm late in seasons — but it came with frustrations that had to be overcome.

“I never stopped working, never stopped learning, never stopped doing what I could to make sure that when my moment came, I was ready,” Urias said. “I feel like my moment came in 2020, when it was my turn to record the last out. I feel so thankful to have been put in that situation.”

That moment now encapsulates a fascinating dilemma for these Dodgers.

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