Dodgers baseball player Julio Urías arrested after domestic violence incident

Mexican baseball player Julio Urías, 27, was arrested Sunday night after a domestic violence incident. The star pitcher of the Los Angeles Dodgers was arrested near BMO Stadium, where soccer player Lionel Messi was playing with Inter Miami. The baseball player was among the many celebrities invited to the Major League Soccer game. Around 11:00 p.m. (local time), Urías was arrested for an event that occurred inside Exposition Park, where the stadium is located. The police took Urías to the county jail, where he was booked around 1:00 a.m. Urías spent four hours behind bars and was released after posting $50,000 bail. The Dodgers, who saw a similar case with Urías in 2019, said Monday that the player will not travel to Miami, where they open a six-game road trip against the Marlins.

Exposition Park police confirmed that Urías was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence. On Monday, which was a public holiday for Labor Day in the United States, the police said they would soon provide more details about the arrest. The entertainment site TMZ claims that a person saw Urías physically abusing a woman. This same witness would have been the one who reported the incident to the Exposition Park police. The player will appear in court on Wednesday, September 27.

Urías has been playing with the Los Angeles Dodgers for eight years, and earns more than $14 million a year. The team — which won the World Series in 2020 — said that it was aware of the incident, but was awaiting further details. “While we attempt to learn all the facts, he will not be traveling with the team. The organization has no further comment at this time,” it said in a statement.

Urías was called to be the starting pitcher in the third and final game in the series against the Marlins. The Dodgers were counting on the left-hander to close the regular season and for the start of the playoffs, which begin October 3. This season, Urías has a record of 11 wins and eight losses, with an earned run average of 4.6.

This is not the first time Urías has been accused of domestic violence. In May 2019, when Urías was 22, a person allegedly saw the pitcher push a woman in a parking lot at the Beverly Center mall in Beverly Hills. The witness reported the incident to the police. According to the police report, Urías denied pushing the woman and said that the woman had fallen.

Los Angeles prosecutors did not press charges, arguing that the woman did not present physical injuries or identify herself as a victim to the police, and that Urías had no criminal record. But the pitcher was, however, ordered to attend a 52-week domestic counseling program. He was put on probation and warned that charges would be pressed if he was involved in a similar incident within a year.

Urías was also the subject of a Major League Baseball (MLB) internal investigation. The MLB suspended the player for 20 games for violating their Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Child Abuse Policy, which was put into place in 2015. No player in the MLB has been punished twice under this same policy.

Urías’ arrest follows a similar incident with Trevor Bauer, another of the Dodgers’ star pitchers. Bauer was suspended for 324 games in 2021 after three women accused him of sexual assault. MLB conducted a nine-month investigation. Bauer, who was sidelined from the team but continued to be paid, denied the accusations and said all encounters were consensual. As happened with Urías, the Los Angeles Prosecutor’s Office refused to press charges. The MLB, however, suspended him for two years.

The case was later reviewed by an arbitrator, who reduced the suspension to 194 games. Bauer was reinstated in December of last year. The Dodgers released the player in January 2023. Since March, the 32-year-old right-hander has played for the Yokohama Baystars of Japan.

Now, the Dodgers must deal with the case of Julio Urías.

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