Dodgers News: Julio Urias' Production All-Season Long Receives High Praise From Pitching Coach
When you think of some of top pitchers in the MLB, Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias should rise near the top of most lists. The consistency he showed, despite pitching over 50 innings less than NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, helped lead the Dodgers to a franchise record 111 wins.
Urias ended the season with an NL best 2.16 ERA to go along with his third best record in the league of 17-7. Although he wasn't able to come home with the hardware, this didn't stop his pitching coach Mark Prior to give him high praise for the display of talent all season long.
Prior spoke to the media and didn't hold back his appreciation for Urias all season long.
“He kind of flew under the radar surprisingly,” Prior said. “He just posts every single day. He goes out and gives us a chance to win ballgames. He goes out and makes 30 starts this year. He limits damage, gets a lot of soft contact. He doesn’t walk a ton of guys.”
Urias play on the field does more for the clubhouse than just wins and losses.
“I think he really has a calming presence on our staff, but on our team when he takes the mound. And what he did for us all year was pretty special with some guys that went down in Walker [Buehler] and Clayton [Kershaw] missing time. He was a stabilizing force for our bullpen, excuse me, for our pitching staff, and then saved our bullpen on a lot of days, too, just because we needed innings and he would go out there and kind of have that ace mentality and kind of pick up some innings for guys.”
It's unfortunate the work Urias puts in is still not being recognized around the league as it should, but this won't stop Urias from performing at his best. Prior will be the first to tell you Urias deserves any award thrown at him and soon the rest of the league will catch up.
