Baseball's top pitching prospect is coming to the majors at age 19.
Julio Urias will start for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday in New York against the Mets, the team announced Thursday morning. He'll take Alex Wood's spot in the rotation and face off against Jacob deGrom at Citi Field.
MORE: MLB prospect rankings for 2016
The left-hander has been dominant against much older players at Triple-A this season, going 4-1 with a 1.10 ERA in eight appearances (seven starts) while striking out 44 in 41 innings. That's merely a continuation of the remarkable numbers he has put up since making his minor league debut as a 16-year-old shortly after signing out of Culiacan, Mexico.
Urias was rated Baseball America's No. 4 overall prospect entering 2016 and the top pitcher, just ahead of the Nationals' Lucas Giolito.
His debut at 19 for the Dodgers will bring inevitable comparisons to another lefty from Mexico, Fernando Valenzuela, who did the same as a reliever in 1980 before moving into the rotation the following season and winning NL Cy Young and Rookie of the Year honors. But Valenzuela was 20 before he made his first MLB start.
