Major League Baseball announced it placed Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias on administrative leave Wednesday, three days after police arrested the south paw on suspicion of felony domestic violence.
The leave was imposed under baseball’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy put into effect by MLB and the players’ union in 2015 and can be the first of a series of steps that can ultimately lead toward a suspension. Players are still paid their salary but cannot play while on leave; Urias is playing this season on a one-year, $14.25 million deal in his final season of salary arbitration eligibility.
“They have to go through the process — players’ association, Julio’s group,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said in Miami. “Baseball is working through this.”
MLB and the union agreed to the leave, which did not pinpoint a length. Absent an agreement, MLB could have imposed a leave of up to a week with the possibility of a seven-day extension.
Urías, 27 years-of-age, did not travel with the Dodgers on their six-game road trip after his late-Sunday arrest outside BMO Stadium, where he had watched the Inter Miami-LAFC soccer game. He was taken into custody on charges of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, which can be filed as a felony or misdemeanor.
Department of Public Safety officers offered no specifics Wednesday on the circumstances of the arrest but asked for any eyewitnesses with information regarding the incident to contact them.
“The Dodgers take all allegations of the kind in this case very seriously, and we do not condone or excuse any acts of domestic violence,” the team said in a statement.
Asked whether a decision on the case will be made during the season, Roberts said he does not know enough information yet.
“Obviously, these are very serious circumstances,” he said. “I would expect it to take the time needed to make sure the right actions are taken.”
The Dodgers announced Wednesday they are nixing Urías’ bobblehead promotion on September 21 with a giveaway of select “premium bobbleheads.”
This is not his first rodeo. Urías also was on administrative leave in 2019 following an arrest for alleged domestic battery. While he was not charged, Urías was required to attend and complete a yearlong domestic violence counseling program, and MLB suspended him for 20 games. No player has been suspended twice under the league’s policy, which was instituted in 2015.
Urías’ attorney, Blair Berk, has not returned a message seeking comment.
MLB has opened an investigation into Sunday’s incident, when Urías was arrested and spent about five hours in custody before being released on $50,000 bail. In a statement acknowledging the arrest, the Dodgers said: “While we attempt to learn all the facts, he will not be traveling with the team.”
DPS on Wednesday confirmed Urías’ arrest for a violation of Penal Code 273.5, which is corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant. Corporal injury on a spouse requires a bodily injury being willfully caused by physical force and is a felony.
Urías entered 2023 as the Dodgers’ ace, coming off a season in which he led the National League with a sparkling 2.16 ERA and finished third in NL Cy Young voting. Scheduled to hit the free agent this winter, Urías was expected to receive a contract in excess of $200 million, but he struggled this season, going 11-8 with an elevated 4.60 ERA and allowing a career-high 24 home runs in just 117⅓ innings.
