4 things to know about new Red Sox infielder Luis Urías
The Red Sox acquired Urías in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers before Tuesday's deadline.
Minutes after the clock struck 6 p.m. on Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline, the Boston Red Sox announced a move.
Red Sox
The Red Sox acquired infielder Luis Urías from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Bradley Blalock, a pitching prospect with a 4.27 ERA in 23 games for Single-A Salem. Following the trade, the Red Sox optioned Urías to Triple-A Worcester.
It was the only move that Red Sox made on deadline day, but it’s one that CBO Chaim Bloom appears pleased with.
“We are pretty excited to add him to our mix,” Bloom told reporters shortly after the trade deadline. “He’s getting back to who he is at the plate. Fenway should be a good fit for him.”
At the end of this season, Urías will have six years of MLB experience. His career began with the San Diego Padres before a trade sent him to the Milwaukee Brewers, where he found his big-league home. He is a patient, careful hitter with a little bit of pop, and his defense has improved from 2021 to 2022. But what about Urías makes Bloom so excited about his addition to the Red Sox?
His stats this year are an anomaly.
It’s easy to look at Urías’s stats this season and feel discouraged. After all, a triple slash of .145/.299/.236 with a 51 OPS+ and a demotion to Triple-A doesn’t exactly depict a dangerous man with a bat in his hands. But there is a valid, yet unfortunate reason for his struggles in 2023.
Urías tore his hamstring on Opening Day and sat out until June 5. He struggled upon his return and seemed to have lost his groove at the plate. The Brewers sent him to Triple-A Nashville on June 29 to help him find it, but he never did. His stats of .233/.345/.724 in the minor leagues were not enough to warrant a big-league comeback, and he remained in Nashville until he was traded.
He certainly is in the midst of a down year. But Brewers manager Craig Counsell said that Urías’s issue wasn’t that he became a bad player, but that his injury appeared to sap his confidence.
“I feel like the confidence is not where maybe it needs to be,” Counsell said, per ESPN. “What comes first—the struggling or the confidence—that’s always a hard question to answer, but Luis has been a consistent major league hitter. It’s the one thing I think he’s really good at doing is just being really good at being consistent, and we just haven’t seen that this year.”
Urías’s prior stats back up Counsell’s claims. When he first became an everyday player in 2021, Urías averaged .249/.345/.789 and a 112 OPS+ with 75 RBIs and 23 HRs. He missed some time due to injury to begin 2022, but picked up right where he left off with averages of .239/.335/.404 and a 110 OPS+.
While Urías may be underperforming this year, his stats show that he is capable of much more. The Red Sox hope that a change of scenery will help Urías return to his prior form, and that possibility encouraged Bloom to make a move for him.
“We just thought that in Luis, there’s an intriguing talent there,” Bloom said. “It’s a really intriguing upside play for us.”
He can play multiple infield positions.
The Brewers primarily used Urías as their everyday third baseman, but saw consistent time playing both shortstop and second base as well. He has played 183 career games at third, 141 at shortstop and 130 at second base. His defense varies depending on his position, but he can get the job done in three different places.
Second base appears to be his best defensive position statistically, or at least the one where he makes the least amount of mistakes. Out of all 52 career MLB errors, only four came from second. In addition, second base is where Urías has the majority of his career putouts and double plays turned, as well as his highest field percentage, despite it being the position he has played the least as a major-leaguer.
His relative strength at second also explains his miserable -11 Outs Above Average in 2021, a year where he played at second considerably less than the other two positions. He played just 25 games at second that season, compared to 68 games for both shortstop and third.
Why is his second base defense so much better than the other two positions he plays? It could be due to its proximity to first base, where most outs on the diamond happen. Urías’s defensive struggles primarily came from his subpar arm strength, which Statcast ranked in the 27th percentile in 2022. This impacts his throwing ability, which makes it difficult for him to throw from far away. That’s a reason why nearly all of his errors come from the left side of the field, and also why he thrives at second, the closest position to first base.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, second base is their biggest position of need. Trevor Story will come back to Fenway soon to play shortstop, and Rafael Devers has third base locked up for the next decade. If Urías is called up from Worcester, he will join Christian Arroyo, Yu Chang and Pablo Reyes in a crowded middle infield. But if he returns to his 2021 and 2022 form, he should have no problem separating himself as the best candidate for the job.
He used to be a highly-touted prospect.
The San Diego Padres signed Urías as an international free agent in 2019, and he spent his minor league career accruing a fanbase of baseball scouts and experts. Baseball America wrote that “Urías has the gifts of a potential .300 hitter.” One writer even saw some parallels between Yankees great Derek Jeter.
By 2018, Urías had gained traction as one of San Diego’s premier prospects. MLB.com ranked him the 3rd-best Padres prospect, just behind Fernando Tatis, Jr. and McKenzie Gore. Both MLB.com and Baseball America had him as a Top-40 prospect in the country. He made his MLB debut that year, but a sharp learning curve and injuries kept him from reaching his full potential with the Padres. He showed flashes of that potential as a Brewer, and the Red Sox hope to unlock more of it.
His brother plays for a division rival.
Now that Luis is in Boston, a sibling rivalry will soon begin in baseball’s toughest division.
Urías is the younger brother of Baltimore Orioles third baseman Ramon Urías. The elder Urías has spent his entire MLB career in Baltimore, even winning a gold glove as an Oriole in 2022.
The Red Sox already look to take down the Orioles, who currently sit atop of their division. But this heated rivalry has just gotten hotter, as Urías will now have many chances to take down his big brother’s team and earn bragging rights at family dinners.
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