Dodger Thoughts

In Midgame

By Jon Weisman

Julio Urias is still a precocious teenager and a pitching prodigy. But the mania will have to wait at least a game.

Displaying consistent velocity but inconsistent command at 19 years and 289 days old, Urias lasted 2 2/3 innings in his Major League debut, leaving with the Dodgers trailing the New York Mets, 3-1.

With three strikeouts, Urias tied a Dodger record for a teenager in his first game, but he also allowed five hits and walked four and even in his best inning, couldn’t find the consistency he needed to last longer.

Yimi Garcia transferred to 60-day disabled list

In Health/injuries, Pregame, Transactions

Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Dodgers at Mets, 4:10 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Howie Kendrick, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Yasiel Puig, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Julio Urias, P

By Jon Weisman

Yimi Garcia, who went on the disabled list five weeks ago with right biceps soreness, has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list in order to make room on the 40-man roster for Julio Urias, whose contract was officially purchased by the Dodgers ahead of his MLB debut tonight.

Garcia had a 2.35 ERA in 7 2/3 innings this season when he entered the eighth inning of a game at Colorado with the 5-5 on April 22. In two-thirds of an inning, the 25-year-old righty gave up a walk, single and two-run triple to Brandon Barnes.

The Amazing Chase: In his 14th season, Utley shows no signs of stopping

Read the entire story by clicking here.

In Publications

In the cover story of the most recent Dodger Insider magazine, we explored the resurgent — or maybe he’s just always surgent — Chase Utley.

For the 36th time this season, Utley is the leadoff hitter for the Dodgers. He leads the Dodgers in on-base percentage, but he does so much more.

“I’ve always taken pride in playing hard,” Utley told our Cary Osborne. “That’s something you have to do on a daily basis. It’s not the easiest thing to do, especially over the course of years and years and games and games. But if you’re able to have that mindset every game, you get the most out of yourself and therefore give your team the best chance to win.”

Said Corey Seager: “I watched him when I grew up. I had a buddy I played with forever who’s from Philadelphia and grew up a Phillies fan. … To be able to sit beside (Utley) is still cool. I still talk about it with my friend. I walk in every day, and he’s sitting there and he’s always there before you. He’s that kind of guy.”

Beginning this year, the Dodgers merged their previously separate Playbill and Dodger Insider magazines into one publication (at least 80 pages per issue) with a new edition available each homestand plus one in October, 13 issues total. It is distributed at auto gates (one per vehicle) and via Fan Services for those who use alternate transportation. Dodger Insider magazine includes news, features, analysis, photos, games, stadium information and more. Fans who still wish to subscribe can do so at dodgers.com/magazine.

In his own words: Fernando Valenzuela’s MLB debut

In History

For our special section in the 2015 Dodger Yearbook dedicated to him, Fernando Valenzuela described his initial promotion to the Major Leagues in 1980 and the unforgettable start that launched Fernandomania in earnest in 1981. Click the image above to enlarge.

— Jon Weisman

Andrew Friedman discusses Urias, Wood, Ryu, Bolsinger

In Front office, Status report

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By Jon Weisman

Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman fielded questions on a conference call from New York late today, mainly on Julio Urias but also on the status of Mike Bolsinger, Alex Wood and Hyun-Jin Ryu. Here are Friedman’s comments (the questions are paraphrased):

When was the decision to promote Urias made?

We’ve had a lot of conversations in the last month about Julio, thinking through different ideas in terms how he can help us win games. It’s not just a case of assessing his talent and seeing if he could help us, it’s also about finishing off some development — also the workload and how to manage that going forward. When this (left triceps soreness) came up with Woody, it made it obviously much easier in that we needed someone who’d be able to go Friday.

Video: Vin Scully recites ‘Field of Dreams’ speech

In Movies

[mlbvideo id=”740700783″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

Vin Scully and a montage of baseball history meet the memorable James Earl Jones monologue from “Field of Dreams” in the above video.

— Jon Weisman

What can Julio Urias expect in his first start?

In Other teams

https://twitter.com/Dodgers/status/735882899187060736

By Jon Weisman

Once Julio Urias takes his big-league ready stuff (detailed here by Ben Badler of Baseball America) to the mound Friday and throws his first pitch at Citi Field against the New York Mets, the immediate question will be — how many more pitches will he throw?

Urias’ season high in the minors this year is 82 pitches. That was spread across six innings, or 13.6 pitches per start — which is basically a Clayton Kershaw level of efficiency that you can only hope he might approach in his MLB debut. His Double-A high with Tulsa in 2015 was 89 pitches.

Someday, Urias will be allowed to break the restraints, but for now, you can’t imagine the 19-year-old hitting triple digits, and the Mets will no doubt be on a mission to make him build up that pitch count as early as possible.

To that end, I asked New York-based MLB.com columnist, Statcast expert and longtime Dodger blogger Mike Petriello what to expect from the Mets’ offense.

Dodgers option Luis Avilan to Oklahoma City

In Transactions

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Luis Avilan has been optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City by the Dodgers, making room on the 25-man roster for the impending promotion of Julio Urias.

In his most recent stint with the Dodgers, Avilan retired the only batter he faced during Los Angeles’ 8-2 victory Tuesday over Cincinnati.

— Jon Weisman

Julio Urias to make MLB debut Friday

In Minor leagues, Transactions

Matthew Mesa/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

A big dose of news this morning: The Dodgers have announced that on Friday, they will purchase the contract of 19-year-old left-hander Julio Urias, who will make his Major League debut that evening in New York against the Mets.

Urias will be taking the scheduled start of Alex Wood, who is resting because of left triceps soreness. Wood, who had 13 strikeouts in 91 pitches during his most recent start May 21 (with 43 strikeouts and a 2.67 ERA in his past 30 1/3 innings) is now scheduled to take the mound Monday in Chicago.

The Dodgers will announce a 40-man roster move Friday to make room for Urias’ contract.

Remembering Mike Sharperson, 1961-1996

In Farewells, History

By Jon Weisman

At 5:05 a.m., 20 years ago today, former Dodger All-Star infielder Mike Sharperson died at the age of 34, following a one-car accident near the junction of Interstate 15 and 215 in Nevada.

All-Star infielder. When Sharperson made the National League All-Star team in 1992, he and the Dodgers got a lot of grief. It was a year of grief. Los Angeles was in turmoil after the riots of late April. The Dodgers were on their way to their worst season in 87 years. Their best hitter was a 30-year-old who had never played a full season in the Major Leagues, whose career high in home runs was three.

The right-handed Sharperson was best known as a platoon partner of lefty-hitting Lenny Harris. A good contact hitter who batted twice for the Dodgers in the 1988 playoffs, Sharperson hit .297 with a .376 on-base percentage and more walks than strikeouts in 415 plate appearances in 1990. He played and hit a bit less in 1991, when the Dodgers lost the National League West title by one game.

Then in the spring and early summer of 1992, as Darryl Strawberry faded and before Mike Piazza arrived, Sharperson — still alternating at second and third base with Harris, Juan Samuel, Dave Hansen and Dave Anderson — somehow emerged as the Dodgers’ best hitter.

Come July, the Dodgers needed an All-Star representative, and Sharperson was it.

KKKKKKKKKKKK-zmir completes KO of Cincinnati

In Postgame

By Jon Weisman

There are four other pitchers looking to prove that the Dodger starting rotation isn’t just Clayton Kershaw.

After last week’s seven-walk interruption, Scott Kazmir is back on the case.

Kazmir struck out 12 batters — his most since 2013 and one shy of his career high — in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory over Cincinnati tonight, Los Angeles’ season-high fourth win in a row.

The 32-year-old just missed becoming the second Dodger lefty in the past five days to strike out 13 in six innings, after Alex Wood on May 21. He settled for the dandy dozen whiffs, on 91 pitches.

Marathon outing shows J.P. Howell has bounced back

In Uncategorized

J.P. Howell allowed four runs in this April 7 game at San Francisco — and has allowed four runs since. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

By Jon Weisman

Before Sunday, J.P. Howell hadn’t pitched two complete innings in a game since 2013, and hadn’t pitched three innings since 2008.

But in the Dodgers’ 17-inning victory over San Diego, Howell whipped through nine outs, allowing only one hit. Considering the outing, his 35 pitches were economical, but they were still an unusually high total for the 33-year-old. Not that he was complaining.

“I haven’t pitched too much this year, so it was kind of nice to be out there for that long period of time,” said Howell.

In fact, Howell said he was ready to come back and pitch Monday if needed. Tuesday was a different story, however.

“You go three innings, you can pitch the next day,” he said. “It’s day two — it’s like once you stop and recovery starts to happen, it’s over.

“So for me, it was yesterday — I was really feeling it. And it’s not your arm, it’s your body, just the middle of your body, the whole core — the front and the back is stiff.”

Kendrick, Thompson start in OF corners, Puig rests

In Managing, Outfield, Pregame

Reds at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Trayce Thompson, RF
Joc Pederson, CF
Howie Kendrick, LF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Scott Kazmir, P

By Jon Weisman

Yasiel Puig isn’t in tonight’s Dodger starting lineup, which isn’t a surprise — least of all to Dave Roberts, who planned to give Puig a night off even before Tuesday’s mid-game benching.

Howie Kendrick is in left field, with Trayce Thompson moving to right. Puig was on the field this afternoon for early batting practice, but not in preparation to start.

“I let all the players know when they’re gonna play, when they’re not gonna play,” Roberts said. “I told Howie (Tuesday afternoon) he was going to be in there with Trayce and Joc. So, tonight is not punitive at all. It was already set.”

Roberts said he had an “extended conversation” with Puig after Tuesday’s game, and now they are moving forward.

“We talked about expectations and a vision and accountability,” Roberts said. “For me, you’ve got to be responsible for your actions.

“He understands, and he wants to be a better teammate. I’m not going to say a mistake like that’s not going to happen with him or any other player, but I think he wants to get better.”

Kawanos Club: The story of two baseball lifers