Julio Urias, a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was put on administrative leave by MLB on Wednesday, three days after he was detained on charges of felony domestic abuse.
On Sunday night, Urias was detained close to LAFC’s BMO Stadium after being listed on a list of famous people who attended to watch Lionel Messi play, which also included Prince Harry, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Selena Gomez.
The veteran, who is not traveling with the Dodgers on their six-game road trip, was placed on administrative leave prior to making his scheduled start on Thursday after MLB launched an investigation into the arrest.
Exposition Park Public Safety reported that its officers detained Urias inside the park, which contains BMO Stadium and was the site of Messi and Inter Miami’s match against LAFC on Sunday at around 11 p.m. With full time coming at roughly 10 p.m., that would be about an hour after the game had ended.
According to detention records kept by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Urias paid $50,000 bail and was freed just before 5am on Monday. He has a September 27 court date.
The pitcher, who is 27 and of Mexican descent, was detained in May 2019 on charges of domestic assault. Uras received a 20-game MLB suspension, but the Los Angeles city attorney decided not to press charges against him as long as he completed a 52-week domestic violence counseling program.
According to the rule, players are often put on administrative leave by the league during a probe, which is what occurred to Urias before his 2019 suspension.
Under MLB’s 2015-implemented rules, no player has ever received two separate suspensions.
After Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was placed on administrative leave while authorities in the Dominican Republic looked into him for an alleged contact with a child, Uras is the second great player on a competing team being examined by MLB in recent weeks.
Since making his MLB debut with the Dodgers in 2016, Urias is 60-25 with a 3.11 ERA in 158 games (122 starts). He won 20 games in 2021 and will lead the National League in ERA (2.16) in 2022. He came in third in the NL Cy Young voting last season and assisted Los Angeles in winning the World Series in 2020.
Urias is a pitcher who is currently signed to a $14.25 million, one-year deal; following the season, he will be an unrestricted free agent.