By Jon Weisman
Julio Urias is bringing his A game to Triple-A tonight.
The 19-year-old phenom is being given his first Triple-A test, starting this evening for Oklahoma City against Iowa.
In his most recent outing Wednesday for Double-A Tulsa, Urias struck out eight in six shutout innings, lowering his August ERA to 2.53 and his 2015 ERA at Double-A to 2.77. He has 74 strikeouts against 69 baserunners in 68 1/3 innings.
You might notice a pattern with Urias. When he made his professional debut at 16 years and 9 1/2 months with Single-A Great Lakes on May 26, 2013, he pitched three shutout innings. In his first game April 4 for Rancho Cucamonga, he pitched four shutout innings. In his Double-A debut April 10 this year, Urias pitched five shutout innings.
Update: Well, it didn’t go well for Urias in his debut. After striking out the first batter and coming within one strike of a perfect inning, Urias allowed three runs on two hits and four walks before getting out of the inning, using 44 pitches. Juan Jaime replaced him in the top of the second.
leekfink
This is absolutely a test to see if he can help in September (or even October).