Content warning: This story includes descriptions of alleged domestic violence.
Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías pleaded no contest on Wednesday to a misdemeanor domestic battery charge following his September arrest.
According to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, the 27-year-old Urías, who played for the Dodgers from 2016 to 2023, was placed on 36 months of summary probation and must complete 30 days of community labor. He also was ordered to complete a 52-week domestic violence counseling course and pay a domestic violence fund fee. Urías is also not permitted to possess any weapons, perform any act of violence and he will have to pay restitution to the victim and abide by a protective order.
Court records show that a second count of domestic battery, and one count each of injuring a spouse/cohabitant/fiance/date/child’s parent, assault and false imprisonment, were dismissed due to the no contest plead, according to City News Service.
Urías was charged earlier this month with one count of spousal battery, two counts of domestic battery involving a dating relationship, one count of false imprisonment and one count of assault.
Urías was arrested Sept. 3 when he was attending an LAFC game at BMO Stadium near downtown Los Angeles. Police said an altercation broke out between Urías and a woman in the parking lot. Urías, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s report, “engaged in an argument” with the woman and “pushed the victim against a fence and pulled her by the hair or shoulders.”
He was released the following morning on $50,000 bond.
Urías was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence at the time, but the county declined to file felony charges in January.
Two days after his arrest, MLB placed Urías on administrative leave. The Dodgers then quickly cleaned out his locker, covered up a mural of him at the stadium and canceled a planned Urías bobblehead night. MLB is still investigating the incident.
“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.
Another MLB suspension likely for Urías
Urías is now a free agent. He held a 4.60 ERA last season, his worst since 2017, in more than 117 innings pitched. He was on pace for a nine-figure contract after he helped the Dodgers win a World Series title in 2020 and led the NL with a 2.16 ERA in 2022.
The incident in September marked the second domestic violence issue Urías has had since entering the league. He served a 20-game suspension in 2019 after he allegedly pushed a woman to the ground in a parking lot. He was not charged criminally in that incident, but the league still suspended him.
No player has been suspended twice under the league’s domestic violence policy, which was put in place in 2015. If MLB hands down a suspension in this case, Urías would be just the fourth player suspended under the policy as a free agent, and the suspension would follow him to his next team.
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