Dodgers Pitcher Julio Urías Placed on Indefinite Administrative Leave

Dodgers starting pitcher Julio Urías has been placed on administrative leave “until further notice” as Major League Baseball investigates allegations of domestic violence against him, a league spokesman announced Wednesday. Urías was arrested on Sept. 3 on a felony charge of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and has not pitched since. He also reportedly did not travel with the team for its series in Miami this week.

A Dodgers spokesman declined to comment. Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman called the arrest “extremely disappointing” and manager Dave Roberts called it “extremely unfortunate.”

Urías, 27, has been arrested twice on domestic violence charges in the past four-plus years and was previously issued a 20-game suspension in connection with the first incident.

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Administrative leave is non-disciplinary—Urías will be paid his $14.25 million salary and receive service time—and is negotiated by the league and the players’ association. The collective-bargaining agreement allows for the league to unilaterally place a player on administrative leave for a week and then negotiate for subsequent one-week renewals with the union, but recently the sides have elected to agree on an indefinite leave to avoid the weekly news cycles. (Rays shortstop Wander Franco is also on administrative leave “until further notice” while the league investigates allegations of relationships with minors.)

This is Urías’s second arrest on charges related to domestic violence. He was not prosecuted after a May 2019 incident, but he agreed to a 20-game suspension without pay from MLB. No player has been suspended twice under the domestic violence policy.

Urías, 27, is eligible to become a free agent after this season.

Four minutes after the league’s announcement, the Dodgers announced that they had canceled their scheduled Sept. 21 Julio Urías bobblehead night.