Dodgers Former Cy Young Finalist Resurfaces After MLB Suspension

A former star pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers recently saw his suspension from Major League Baseball lifted and now he has resurfaced in his native country.

Julio Urias was one of the most effective starters in all of baseball for several years with the Dodgers, winning a World Series championship in 2020, leading all of MLB with 20 total wins in 2021 and finishing as a Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player Award finalist in 2022.

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Then, in September 2023, Urias was arrested and charged with felony domestic violence charges following an alleged altercation outside of BMO Stadium in downtown Los Angeles. Urias had already been suspended for 20 games by MLB in 2019 following an arrest on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic battery.

Following his 2023 arrest, Urias was placed on administrative leave during an MLB investigation and he was ultimately suspended until the middle of this past season.

“The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball has completed its investigation into allegations that free agent pitcher Julio Urías violated Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement at the time. “Having reviewed all of the available evidence, I have concluded that Mr. Urías violated our Policy and that discipline is appropriate.”

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Urias has remained unsigned and has avoided public appearances since then, but he has now been spotted in Mexico in a picture that has gone viral in his native country.

“After almost two and a half years without any public appearance, Mexican pitcher Julio César Urías reappeared on social media through a photograph that quickly attracted attention, after being captured in a restaurant in Meoqui, Chihuahua, as well as in the main square of the municipality, where some fans took the opportunity to take a souvenir picture with the former Los Angeles Dodgers player,” Daniel Coronado wrote in a translated report for El Heraldo de Chihuahua. “The original post quickly spread across social media, mainly on local pages in Chihuahua, where it began to circulate rapidly and generated a wide reaction among baseball fans and users in general.”

Fans have also been digitally altering the picture and speculating that Urias could be seeking a return to a major league mound, though there has been no concrete update about his interest in pitching again or any team’s willingness to sign him to a new contract now that his suspension has been lifted.