Urías pitches during a game against the Red Sox at Fernway Park on August 26. Bob DeChiara (USA TODAY Sports via Portal Con)
An incident of sexist violence threatens the career of Mexican Julio Urías. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ star pitcher was arrested Sunday night near BMO Stadium, where Lionel Messi and Inter Miami defeated local team LAFC. The baseball player was among the celebrities invited to the MLS game. At around 11:00 p.m. (local time), the athlete was arrested for an incident at Exposition Park, where the playing field is located. Police took Urías to the county jail, where he was arrested around 1 a.m. and spent much of the early morning until he was released after posting $50,000 bail. The Dodgers, who had already experienced a similar case with Urías in 2019, said this Monday that the player would not travel to Miami to play a series against the Marlins until further information on the events was available.
According to the Associated Press, the police who arrested 27-year-old Urías initially did not provide any information about the charges. Authorities have said they will release new details on charges related to the arrest this Monday, which is the long Labor Day weekend in the United States. Entertainment and celebrity media outlet TMZ claims a person saw Urías physically attack a woman. The same witness would have been the one to report the incident to the police at Exposition Park. The player will appear in court for a arraignment on Wednesday, September 27th.
The Los Angeles baseball team, where Urías has played for eight years and won the championship in 2020, has said it is aware of the incident involving its star but is awaiting further details. “The organization will not be making any further comments at this time,” said the message posted on social media. Urías has a contract with the team worth $14 million per year. He was named the starter in the third and final game of the series against Florida. The Dodgers wore his left arm at the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs on October 3rd. This season, the athlete from Culiacán has a record of eleven wins and eight losses with an average of 4.6 runs allowed (ERA).
Urías has a history of domestic violence. On May 13, a person reportedly saw the then 22-year-old pitcher pushing the woman in a parking lot at the Beverly Hills shopping center. The witness reported to the police what he had seen. According to the report written by officers the same day, Urías denied pushing her and said the woman had fallen.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office did not file charges following this incident at the Beverly Center. The city’s lawyers argued that their decision was based on the fact that the woman had no physical injuries, did not identify herself as the victim to police and that Urías had no criminal record. They also demanded that the pitcher attend therapy for a year to prevent sexist violence. Prosecutors placed him on probation and made it clear they would take criminal action if the player was involved in a similar incident within a year.
The MLB baseball league has subjected Urías to an internal investigation. At the same time, he imposed a 20-game ban on him because of rules introduced in 2015 to combat domestic violence. No player in this professional league has been penalized twice under this protocol.
The Dodgers have already had a similar incident with Trevor Bauer, another of their star pitchers. The pitcher was suspended for 324 games in 2021 after three women accused him of sexual assault. MLB conducted a nine-month investigation into the events. Bauer, who left the team but continued to be paid, always denied the allegations and told those responsible for the investigation that the alleged assaults took place as part of consensual sexual relationships. As in Urías’ case, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office declined to file charges. However, the league punished him with a two-year sentence. Review of the case by a mediator between MLB and the players’ union resulted in the penalty being reduced to 194 games. Bauer returned to the sport in December last year. His team Los Angeles released him in January 2023. The 32-year-old right-hander has been playing for the Yokohama Baystars from Japan since March.
Now the Dodgers have to deal with the Julio Urías case.
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