ANAHEIM — To those who have watched Walbert Ureña over the past couple of years, the story of his sudden rise has nothing to do with a new pitch or a tweaked grip.
He was throwing the same 99 mph fastball and 90 mph changeup when he was putting up nondescript numbers in the minor leagues and generating little buzz about his future.
All that happened between then and now, they say, is that Ureña developed his mind. He gained the confidence in his stuff, and learned when to throw which pitches.
Angels infield coach Andy Schatzley, who was Ureña’s manager last season at Double-A Rocket City, is quick to say what a “really good story” Ureña’s development has been.
Bullpen coach Dom Chiti, who was the Angels’ minor league pitching coordinator the last two years, used the same phrase.
“It’s a really good story,” Chiti said.
Press them both for details, though, and you get shrugs.
“You can’t point to any one thing,” Schatzley said. “It’s just the total body of work. He’s someone who really embodies daily improvement. Small focus and stay the course. I know that’s a really generic answer, but it was just so steady. He was so mature in how he handled the day to day. When you combine that with the physical talent that’s obvious to everybody, this is what you’re seeing.”
Ureña, 22, has a career 4.67 ERA in the minors. So far in his first season in the majors, he’s got a 2.41 ERA. He just pitched five scoreless innings against an explosive A’s lineup in their hitter-friendly ballpark, and he’ll face them again on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
In his last 10 starts, Ureña has a 1.93 ERA. He hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start since April 25.
The Angels signed the Dominican Republic native as a 17-year-old in March 2021. He spent his first year working out at the complex in the Dominican, and the next year pitching at the Angels’ facility in Arizona.
In 2023, he pitched for the first time for a full-season affiliate, posting a 5.66 ERA for Class-A Inland Empire. He walked 60 batters in 98⅔ innings.
He moved up to high-A the next season, and his ERA at Tri-City was 4.19, with 54 walks in 77⅓ innings. Last year he was at Double-A and things began to move in the right direction.
Ureña had a 5.34 ERA in July, but a 2.82 ERA over his final 10 starts. His finish to last season was enough for the Angels to add him to the 40-man roster last winter.
Chiti said it was just a matter of Ureña getting a better idea about how to sequence the stuff he had.
Ureña agreed that it was simply a matter of his approach to hitters.
“More confidence in my stuff,” Ureña said. “Trusting my stuff. Knowing when to throw a pitch in certain situations.”
Ureña’s changeup has been his best pitch. Opponents are hitting .153 against it, and they have whiffed on 36% of their swings. The major-league average whiff rate on changeups is 31%. He throws a sinker and a four-seam fastball, and both touch 100 mph. His sweeper is the most recent addition to his repertoire.
Ureña answers questions about his pitching in clear English, which is another part of the story that the Angels point to so frequently. They say he learned English in a year, to the point that he started translating for the other Latin players at Double-A.
Speaking English doesn’t help you get hitters out, but the Angels believe it’s indicative of his aptitude to learn, which translates to pitching.
“He’s wise beyond his years,” catcher Logan O’Hoppe said. “The quality of human he is, the success he’s had is no coincidence. It seems like he’s been doing it for a lot longer than he has.”
One of the most impressive qualities of the start to his major league career is the way he’s been able get himself out of trouble, which comes in handy when he’s still walking too many hitters. He’s had games in which his command has been shaky, but he has limited the damage to two or three runs.
He stranded nine baserunners in pitching five scoreless innings against the Houston Astros on June 9.
“Just try to be calm,” Ureña said that night. “Try to be calm and make pitches.”
It doesn’t surprise Schatzley, who managed him last season.
“He’s as mature as they come,” Schatzley said. “It’s not something that came easy to him. It’s something that he put a lot of intentional work into. It hasn’t been smooth sailing to this point. It won’t be smooth sailing from here out. But he’s well equipped with everything he needs to navigate the ebbs and the flows.”
Chiti said he’s also not surprised. He will push back at any suggestion that Ureña came out of nowhere simply because he had ugly numbers in the minors.
“When people look at numbers,” Chiti said, “it doesn’t tell you the story of where they’re at.”
UP NEXT
A’s (TBA) at Angels (RHP Walbert Ureña, 5-5, 2.41 ERA), Friday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM