Don’t mistake his humility for weakness. Don’t confuse his silence for contentment.
Julio Urías has pride.
Listen to him carefully. It’s there.
“I always try to give respect to whomever deserves it,” Urías said in Spanish. “I try to do my thing and hopefully they also carry their part, no?”
He was talking about the Dodgers and how this could be his final season with them. He will be a free agent next winter.
The Dodgers haven’t always treated the 26-year-old the way teams typically treat pitchers of his stature, and now the only way they can show him the respect he craves might be to pay him more than owner Mark Walter and the front office would like.
Urías was clearly the Dodgers’ top pitcher last year, but the team waited until five days after its regular-season finale to name him the Game 1 starter for its National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.